Obama Moving Census to White House

[rev214]

Now President B.O. is taking the census out of the commerce department and moving it to the white house.

Gaming the System.

Deeply deeply troubling Obama development. President b. Hussein is removing the Census from the Commerce department and moving it to the White House. Bear in mind that President O has allocated one billion dollars in the porkulous package for the already automatically funded census taking.

[edstephan]

Ahaaaa Yea, "More change we NEED" [/sarcasm]

Ed

[MichaelJ]

Don't worry he tapped the head of ACORN to make sure it's accurate.

Right after Obama made sure the taxes were paid.

[adymond]

This should be getting more attention than it is. Let's see what else does the Census effect? The electoral college? The make-up of the House of Representatives? Why are more people not up in arms over this. What would the media have said if Carl Rove had control of the Census?

[ChamberedRound]

So not only does he get to stack the census to benefit his administration and party for the next 10 years, but he gets to steal the $1 billion budgeted to it with no accountability on how that money is spent, or if it's even used for the census-taking at all.

Aside from the information presented by the OP, I also found this news article:
http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cf...s-000003025792

As far as MSM outlets go, I also found articles on Fox News and MSNBC. This is the Fox article:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/firs...-brews-census/

Political Battle Brews Over 2010 Census
President Obama's decision to share oversight of next year's Census has sparked protest from GOP lawmakers.

FOXNews.com
Sunday, February 08, 2009

A political battle has erupted over next year's census with Republican lawmakers protesting President Obama's decision to take a bigger role in supervising the process.

The Census Bureau director, who reports to the commerce secretary, now also will keep the White House directly in the loop.

The White House says it is following a historical precedent and that this simply shows that the census is a priority for the president. But Republicans say it looks like a political power grab.

"The United States census should remain independent of politics," House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said. "It should not be directed by political operatives working out of the White House."

"I'm very concerned," Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., told FOX News. "The Census Bureau has worked for decades to get rid of the cronyism and the partisan politics that had permeated that agency.

"And they have done it by bringing professionalism to the agency and making certain that individuals that came there went through a very thorough process. Anytime there is an administration that will tamper with that, this is a concern to anyone."

Blackburn, a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said the committee will hold hearings to investigate the change.

But Rep. Chris Van Hollen, R-Md., the head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee tasked with getting Democrats elected, said nothing nefarious is behind the move.

"The more eyes taking a look at this the better," Van Hollen told "FOX News Sunday." "It matters less exactly what the reporting mechanism is than that we get the facts and the count right."

The census count is supposed to be a nonpartisan process. But it also helps to determine how congressional lines are drawn. And it shows the demographic changes of the nation of the past 10 years, which could shift billions of dollars in federal funding for things like schools and roads and job training.

Some Republicans suspect this could be a move by the White House to gerrymander those political boundaries so they benefit Democratic candidates.

"To shift it to the White House to me just politicizes the census, which is not something we should be doing," said Sen John Cornyn, R-Texas, head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee that gets GOP senators elected.

"If you cook the figures up front, I think it distorts that process going forward and the notion of one person, one vote," he said.

The economic recovery package currently being debated on Capitol Hill includes $1 billion to fix errors that occur in the 2010 Census.

The move of venue comes after some advocates worried aloud that Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., Obama's nominee for commerce secretary, wouldn't push hard for a count of Hispanics and other minorities in the census.

Boehner said the White House oversight "appears to be motivated by politics" because Gregg has been picked by Obama to take over the Commerce Department.

But Obama officials insist they're simply returning to the model used under President Clinton.

"I think the historical precedent of this is there's a director of the census that works for the secretary of commerce, the president and also works closely with the White House to ensure a timely and accurate count," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.

The Clinton and Bush administrations had different ways of dealing with the census. The Clinton administration placed a panel of experts at the Census Bureau in charge of adjusting data for people the census missed or double-counted. Clinton officials said it would insulate the decision from political pressure.

The Bush administration changed those regulations before that panel ruled on the 2000 results, leaving it up to the commerce secretary to oversee the bureau's work.

FOX News' Caroline Shively contributed to this report.

and here's the MSNBC article:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29046718/

Gregg mum on Census Bureau

By JOHN DiSTASO
The Union Leader
updated 2:17 a.m. ET, Fri., Feb. 6, 2009

MANCHESTER - Sen. Judd Gregg yesterday declined all comment on reports that the White House will strip him of his authority over the federal Census Bureau even before he becomes Secretary of Commerce.

Gregg spokesman Laena Fallon said all comment would come from the White House.

A White House spokesman last evening said, "From the first days of the transition the census has been a priority for the president, and a process he wanted to reevaluate. There is historic precedent for the director of the census, who works for the Commerce Secretary and the president, to work closely with White House senior management -- given the number of decisions that will have to be put before the president. We plan to return to that model in this administration."

The Census Bureau is a key part of the Department of Commerce.

The Capitol Hill publication Congressional Quarterly yesterday reported that the White House, responding to minority groups' concerns about Gregg's commitment to funding the census, has decided to have the director of the Census Bureau report directly to the White House.

Minorities are traditionally concerned about an accurate count because the census numbers are used to apportion political power, through redistricting, and federal funding, reflecting demographic changes over the past decade.

The White House move angered some House Republicans, who called it a power grab directed by White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.

Last, Congressional Quarterly updated the story, noting, "The White House took a small step back from what the senior official told CQ, releasing a statement late Thursday that couched the relationship between the Census Bureau director and the West Wing as one in which the director would work with the high-level officials rather than report directly to them."

Gregg was nominated for the Commerce post on Tuesday by President Obama, a move described as a show of bipartisanship and an effort to bring contrary opinions to his Cabinet.

But the nomination angered minority groups, who charged that Gregg has been an opponent of the federal census process.

According to several reports, Gregg, as chairman of the Senate appropriations subcommittee that oversees the Commerce Department, opposed a 1999 request by President Bill Clinton for emergency funds for the 2000 census. In 1995, he voted in committee and on the floor for a 1995 GOP budget that would have eliminated the Commerce Department.

Gregg has said this week that he has been a strong supporter of the department and while he served as subcommittee chairman, the budget for the department increased substantially.

He has not commented directly on the Census Bureau since his nomination.

The census is taken every 10 years, and the bureau is gearing up for the 2010 count.

Congressional Black Caucus Chairman Barbara Lee, D-Calif., said in a statement Wednesday, "Two of the most important responsibilities of the commerce department are to ensure that minority-owned businesses are fully integrated in our nation's economic recovery and to conduct the decennial census."

Lee said, "... Sen. Gregg's record of previously voting to abolish the commerce department and his attempts to block President Bill Clinton's efforts to secure adequate funding for the 2000 census raise troubling concerns regarding his commitment to the department's core missions."

The National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) also voiced concern.

"Secretary of Commerce-designate Judd Gregg's record raises serious questions about his willingness to ensure that the 2010 census produces the most accurate possible count of the nation's population," a NALEO spokesman told Politico.com.

The Hispanic newspaper La Opinion, in an editorial yesterday, urged caution, saying, "Gregg's history on this issue is not good," adding that it is "deeply concerned about the Gregg appointment."

"We believe that he will follow Obama's directive for the agency that oversees a wide variety of areas. ... Our fear, though, is that other priorities may also push aside the importance of national headcount or that it will be undertaken reluctantly due to the Commerce Secretary's lack of conviction and interest in the value of the census. We cannot afford this risk."

The New York Times yesterday editorialized, "In his confirmation hearing, Mr. Gregg must explain what he would do to get the 2010 census back on track."

Noting that a Census Bureau director has yet to be named, the Times said, "Mr. Obama must choose a competent director and pledge his administration's full support to spend whatever is necessary to salvage the count."

According to Congressional Quarterly, two key GOP House members criticized the plan to strip the Census Bureau out of the commerce department and questioned its legality.

"Any attempt by the Obama administration to circumvent the census process for their political benefit will be met with fierce opposition as this ill-conceived proposal undermines a constitutionally obligated process that speaks to the very heart of our democracy," said California Rep. Darrell Issa, the top Republican on the committee.

Issa and North Carolina Rep. Patrick McHenry, the top Republican on the subcommittee that oversees census issues, reportedly sent a letter to President Obama detailing their concerns.

"Requiring the census director to report directly to the White House and placing responsibility for administration of the Bureau outside the Department of Commerce may even violate federal law," they wrote.

[adymond]

So not only does he get to stack the census to benefit his administration and party for the next 10 years, but he gets to steal the $1 billion budgeted to it with no accountability on how that money is spent, or if it's even used for the census-taking at all.

Aside from the information presented by the OP, I also found this news article:
http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cf...s-000003025792

As far as MSM outlets go, I also found articles on Fox News and MSNBC. This is the Fox article:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/firs...-brews-census/



and here's the MSNBC article:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29046718/

Exactly what I was saying! This goes against the principle of limited government and decentralized government. WTF? Are we going to have an Office of Central Planning?

[stevieb92]

Don't worry, the pro-Omessiah residents on this board will be along shortly to tell us it was the CHANGE we had HOPEd for and should move along, there is nothing to see here.

[Captain Tuttle]

This is very dangerous.

Having the census estimated by the White House ensures a partisan spin to estimating population density/profile. Guaranteed that urbanized blue areas will be "over estimated". Which means more government dollars will go to blue friendly politicians.

This is absolutely crazy. What will it take for Americans to say "Enough"? What is the limit of how much crap people are willing to take. This is just nuts.

[1861]

As the KENYAN said , he won . We are a conquered nation and to the victors go the spoil . We will be spoiled before this is over .

[camper]

This should be getting more attention than it is. Let's see what else does the Census effect? The electoral college? The make-up of the House of Representatives? Why are more people not up in arms over this. What would the media have said if Carl Rove had control of the Census?

Most people don't know and/or realize this. This IS a big deal, especially since you read that it would be under the commerce department if Richardson (D) would have kept control, but since he pulled out and Obama gave the dept of commerce to a Republican the census IMMEDIATELY needs to go to his right hand comrade.

camper