CQ TODAY ONLINE NEWS
Updated Feb. 5, 2009 – 6:34 p.m.
White House: Census Director to ‘Work Closely’ with West Wing
By Jonathan Allen, CQ Staff
The Obama administration acknowledged Thursday that the as-yet-unnamed Census Bureau director will have a direct line to the White House but sought to define the relationship as one in which the director would “work closely with” rather than report to President Obama’s senior staff.
After black and Hispanic leaders raised concerns over Commerce Secretary-nominee Judd Gregg ’s commitment to core functions of the Census Bureau, a senior White House official told CQ on Wednesday that the director would report directly to the White House.
That brought fire Thursday from Republicans, who accused the White House of attempting to gain advantage in the politically delicate process of counting Americans and of violating the law by circumventing the Commerce secretary. The decennial census is used to determine the apportionment of congressional districts among the states and federal funding for numerous programs.
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.
“From the first days of the transition the census has been a priority for the president, and a process he wanted to reevaluate,” White House spokesman Ben LaBolt said. “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.”
House Republicans are incensed about the prospect of the Census Bureau director reporting directly to the White House staff, which is led by former Rep. Rahm Emanuel (2003-09), a longtime political operative and onetime chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
“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 House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
Issa and North Carolina Rep. Patrick McHenry, the top Republican on the subcommittee that oversees census issues, sent a letter to Obama detailing their concern that such a move might circumvent existing law and be used for partisan gain.
“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. “According to Title 13 of the U.S. Code, the Bureau is to be administered ‘within, and under the jurisdiction of, the Department of Commerce.’ ”
The selection of a Republican Commerce secretary by a Democratic president was always certain to cause some discomfort on the political left and the political right.
Gregg’s record on Census Bureau funding, in particular, highlighted the high stakes political battle over how people are counted.
Gregg opposed “emergency” funding for the 2000 census and sought to fund Justice Department programs at the expense of Commerce programs when he ran the Commerce-Justice appropriations panel. He also voted for a Republican-written budget that called for abolishing the Commerce Department in 1995.
“The constitutionally mandated decennial census needs to be fair, accurate and trusted. By circumventing the secretary of Commerce’s oversight of the Census Bureau and handing it directly to a political operative such as Mr. Emanuel, you are severely jeopardizing the fairness and accuracy of the 2010 census,” Issa and McHenry wrote.
House Republicans do not have a vote in the confirmation process.
First posted Feb. 5, 2009 2:28 p.m.
Comments
Speaking as a centrist, who thinks the world of president Obama's smarts, I do not like this at all. I am all for bipartisanship in Obama's cabinet. But the republicans and democrats are too far apart on the issues that relate to minorities; especially on counting and helping them. Because the commerce secretary oversees census, Sen. Judd Gregg, and/or any other republican, should have been considered for any other position but commerce. Like Tim Geitner at Treasury, he must have superior skills needed to serve as commerce secretary. There's still time for Mr. Gregg to withdraw from this appointment. Afterall, as compensation, he requested and received an appointment of a republican to replace him in the senate, from a democratic governor. Go figure!
Why don't you explain why Black and Hispanic leaders are upset? 1) Counting people in urban areas can be difficult. Black men tend to disappear relative to white men according to government statistics. The normal ratio for females to males is 52% to 48%. For Blacks it is on the order of 57% to 43%. Without criticizing why, it is mostly due to the prison system and urban "opportunity." Democrats are advantaged when every person is counted because presumably it will give them more representation vis-a-vis congressional districts. 2) The same goes for Hispanics except for their males disappearing. It is presumably to the Democrats' advantage for every American born child of illegal immigrants to be counted as a citizen again because of congressional representation. Further, it is better for them to know how many actual illegal immigrants there are so that if amnesty is granted again, the Democrats' will have an advantage. Amnesty may turn Texas Blue (Barack got ~45%) and a growing south purple. Hispanics tend also to make up the growing part of the population of old cities as well. 3) Republicans are pretending that their view is non-partisan. Just because it is in the constitution does not mean it is not partisan. It is a lie and exaggeration to say so. It created a partisan congress with partisan agendas-hardly non-partisan. Just as well, it is to the Republican's advantage to minimize all of the above because even if it were fair, it makes them relatively less powerful, and thus their "outrage." If the census bureau was under counting white folks in the mountains (Utah, West Virginia) the Republicans would be raising hell-for a just reason. The feeling however is apparently not mutual for "coloured" people. 4)While this comment takes the view that many concerns are about "illegals" it should be noted that from Texas to California to Colorado was stolen from Mexico. The American settlers here might be labeled the true "illegals." Those states all have Spanish names. I wonder what Mexico would have been withe the mighty Colorado River, California's gold, and Texas oil.
I would love to know what these Republicans would say if Obama responded, "As head of the unitary executive branch, the president of the United States has the inherent authority to structure that branch as he sees fit." The Republicans sure didn't care when Gonzales politicized the DOJ or Bush stretched executive power.
Why does anyone listen to Issa or McHenry? They are two of the biggest losers in the Republican party (which is up against some pretty stiff competition, as you can imagine). Issa has had legal troubles of his own, and McHenry is a total wing-nut without an idea that the RNC didn't put in his head (plus lots of other rumors out there about him and some, er, inappropriate partying). They should be ignored.
After the criminal shenanigans pulled by the Republicans ten years ago both during and following the last census, why should anyone trust them or listen to them. Remember Texas? Years after the census count was completed, the corrupt Republicans called for redistricting in Texas to occur, courtesy of Tom "Bug Man" Delay, in an attempt to dilute minority voting, breaking numerous laws in the process. Typical. So Republicans, if Gregg is confirmed as Commerce Secretary, will be able to game the census at the front-end, as their counter-parts in Republican red states seek to rig the redistricting, based on Gregg's numbers, in their favor. Of course, one obvious fraud by the Republicans would be to undercount citizens in blue states while inflating the citizen count in red states so Democrats would lose seats (and representation) while Republicans gained seats. Haven't you noticed after the past eight years that the culture of corruption and deceit Republicans will do anything, and I mean anything, to rigs things in their favor, no matter much harm they do to our country in the process.
Article 4, Section 4 of the US Constitution mandates the US Government to protect the states from invasion. There are millions of illegal aliens in the US because bureaucrats were derelict in their duty to protect the states. Now, these same bureaucrats wish to count the illegals they deliberately let in to reward themselves for their own malfeasance, again, at the expense of the Citizenry.
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