Posted on 02/07/2009 6:09:26 AM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
President Obama has decided to bring the U.S. Census Bureau under White House jurisdiction, a move that incensed House Republicans, who fired off a blistering letter to him Thursday, calling it "outrageous and unprecedented" and a "blatant partisan and political maneuver."
The move would shift the chain of command with the bureau and the Commerce Department, where the bureau currently resides. It comes after the Congressional Black Caucus, National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials and other groups expressed displeasure with Obama's nominee for Commerce secretary, Republican Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire.
Gregg, the groups said this week, opposed efforts to secure emergency funding for the 2000 Census, which they asserted exposes a potential lack of commitment to ensuring that hard-to-reach minority populations are properly accounted for in the 2010 census.
A White House spokesman confirmed Thursday that Obama plans to work closely with the bureau, which will remain within the Commerce Department.
"From the first days of the transition the census has been a priority for the president, and a process he wanted to re-evaluate," the spokesman said in a prepared statement.
"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," he said. "We plan to return to that model in this administration."
House Republicans reacted quickly. House Oversight and Government Reform ranking member Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and Oversight and Government Reform Census Subcommittee ranking member Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., seized on speculation that the move would place the yet-unnamed Census Bureau director under the watchful eye of White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, instead of leaving Gregg in charge.
They suggested the move could improperly influence legislative redistricting, which is shaped by Census counts.
"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 Obama.
Details of the day-to-day relationship between the White House and the Census Bureau seem hazy.
Aides speculated Thursday that the bureau's budget and public-affairs functions may be routed through OMB, an arrangement that would assuage the fears expressed by advocates concerned that the Census director's public statements and congressional testimony would be subject to censorship by less-than-supportive leadership at Commerce.
Sources on both sides of the issue said black lawmakers and others interested in securing more funding for the 2010 Census had been hoping for assurances of support from Obama as soon as they learned about Gregg's possible selection to Commerce post.
One Democratic aide close to the matter called the administration's decision a direct response to the grievances of minority groups upset with Gregg's appointment.
"People started yelling at them," said the aide, who added that the details of how the White House's interactions with the Census director remain woefully undefined.
"Their answer was 'OK, fine, [Gregg] won't be in charge,'" the aide said. "It wasn't a plan. It was a reaction."
The administration's idea to shift jurisdiction over the Census Bureau was not entirely new.
In September, congressional Democrats, led by Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., proposed legislation to make the bureau an independent federal agency. Such agencies report directly to the president, as the Federal Emergency Management Agency did before it became part of the Homeland Security Department.
A Census Bureau spokeswoman declined to comment on any organizational changes until a director is in place.
This isn’t rearranging deck chairs. This is saboteurs infiltrating the bridge and charting a new course. It’s hugh...I’m series.
He’s only been in three weeks. Who knows Monday’s speech could bring down the hammer.
“There was some discussion of this last night on Special Report with Bret Baier—Juan Williams was OK with it, the other two not, but they talked as if there’s nothing to stop Obama and Rahm Emanuel from doing this.”
That’s the part that infuriates me. Where the hell is the outrage on this?? You say the other two panelists weren’t OK with it(yeah, because it is a deliberate pushing for mock ‘elections’ to favor their power grab!), but ho-hum! I want to see the damn outrage and stop with this acceptance of these open flaunting of vote fraud and aims at a fascist state. WHERE THE HELL ARE THE REPUBLICANS SHOWING ANGER???? They need to call their ‘friends’ out on what they are. There is no civility with people who do this. They are supposed to protect us from our enemies foreign AND DOMESTIC!
Agreed!!! Have had these folks at my door demanding under threat of arrest & imprisonment that I answer a whole host of questions from how far I went to go to church & how often to how many flush toilets I had .
I simple told them that the number of persons in the household was X & if they wanted to start a fire fight by trying to have me arrested for not being cooperative to go right ahead .
The look on the cencus takers face was priceless as I had refused to answer those questions from a census taker before & this was a full time govt flunkie who was standing at my door being a pest.
Greg should resign and take back his Senate seat. He was a fool to abandon it in the first place.
They should not be reelected. The constituents of both need to start organizing NOW to find strong conservative candidates.
You think they (we the people) will be allowed to vote out a Democrat politician ? You have more faith in the honesty of Democrats & the willingness to fight on the part of the GOP than I do sir,I pray to God you are correct in your assesment .
Soetoro: Who can I appoint to Commerce, so that you guys can protest that he’s a racist, and can’t be trusted to handle the census?
ACORN, La Raza, etc.: Judd Gregg!
Soetoro: Done!
Democrats play chess. Republicans play checkers.
Good point [deep soulful sigh].
Two words: ELECTORAL VOTES.
Conservatives have been playing tiddlywinks, they have been playing by schoolyard rules. They took our lunch money, they took everything else, now they are coming for our lives. Our RNC in Washington still thinks they are dealing with genteel fellow legislators and the marquis of Queensbury rules apply. They are not, these guys are THUGS, they play by the Al Capone rules of engagement. This is more like the first months of Salvador Allende and unless we have a Pinochet hiding somewhere we are at a loss.
Everything they have done so far is tied to the consolidation of power and is designed to make sure that they never loose an election again. By the time they are done we will be thrown into a footnote on the book of history. Elections will be meaningless, they will be held to lull people into thinking that they have had their say, but they will see to it they never loose. They are consolidating power with the full knowledge that here and there public opinion will turn against them, but that won't matter a bit, they know that they will control all the levers of power and that we are helpless because we have been conditioned the same way laboratory mice are. It's not Saul Alinsky's rules they are following, it's Lenin's rules for the consolidation of power with a little bit of Stalin thrown in for good measure. Those are the playbooks these guys are reading.
Manipulating the census will allow them to create districts where there were none in blue territory where they control the electoral machine. In the meantime they will slice the power of the right using Stalin's salami tactics one slice at a time. Mark my words, by 2010 it will be all set up to insure their grip on power is permamnent and that's when the real fun will begin.
Ideas are more powerful than guns. If we don't let our people have guns, why should we let them have ideas?
-- Josef Stalin
see post above #77
I am afraid you are right. There is a reason that ACORN was put in the Porkulus Bill. What do we have to counter them?
Pray for America, Our Troops and obama’s Salvation
While much of what you say is undoubtedly true, I think you seriously underestimate the great American redneck who is heavily armed at this very moment. Don’t think for a minute that “they” don’t know that, too.
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