"Yippy, I get to run the census."
Posted on 02/12/2009 2:08:47 PM PST by STARWISE
House Republicans will defend the integrity of the U.S. Census at a Capitol Hill press conference on Thursday.
On Wednesday, they sent a letter to President Barack Obama, expressing “grave concerns” about the administration’s plan to transfer control of the 2010 Census to White House staffers.
Doing so would result in “the unprecedented politicization of the Census and open the door to massive waste and abuse in the expenditure of taxpayer funds, billions of which are distributed on the basis of Census data,” Republicans wrote.
Republicans note that an estimated $300 billion in taxpayer funding is distributed by the federal government annually, based on the constitutionally mandated population count. The Census head count determines how many congressional seats are apportioned to the various states.
Under an administration plan revealed late last week, control of the traditionally nonpartisan Census Bureau and the 2010 Census would be transferred from the Commerce Department to “political operatives” on the White House staff, which is headed by the former chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.).
Republicans say there is no historical precedent for placing the Census under the control of the White House staff.
“The Census Bureau is staffed by experienced and talented professionals who are leaders in the field of statistics,” the Republicans wrote in their letter to Obama. “In order to produce a fair, accurate and trustworthy count during the 2010 Census, the Census Bureau needs to remain an agency free from political or partisan influence.”
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the 2010 questionnaire “will be one of the shortest and easiest to complete since the nation’s first census in 1790.”
The questions on gender, age, race, ethnicity, relationship and whether you own or rent your home are essentially the same as those asked in 2000, the Census Bureau says on its Web page.
“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 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.
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The most transparent administration in history ....... /s
And keep A C O R N as far away as possible from being the “sampling takers” on the Census.
What is left of the GOP better fight on the Census issue as if their existence depends on it, because it does. Can you imagine Rahm Emanuel overseeing a statistical sampling type of Census! This is a naked attempt to freeze out conservatives from national politics permanently.
AMEN
I’m glad the Republicans are giving publicity to this.
I have not heard a word about this census power grab in the MSM. The only place I heard it is talk radio and here on the internet.
Now the MSM will cover the story as Republicans make it an issue.
What else is Obama trying to do under cover of darkness? If Judd Gregg and Republicans had not said anything, most people would never know that they want to politicize the census.
If Republicans don’t start fighting back against the Obama Socialism administration they will be peons and their positions will be totally insignificant. Time to get some nads!
It is indeed a simplified census data form with two questions:
1) Who did you vote for as president of the Inited States in November of 2008?
2) How many firearms , if any , do you have in your household?
Refuse to answer, and Acorn will look around your home, and write in the answer for themselves.
Poor Chrissy M. He is trying to spin anyway that he can.
And please let me know if any of you hear one MSM person say the word ACORN. The Will Not and Can Not, LOL!
MSM screaming that this was an entirely political move.
Too late! White House tells Republicans
We have been conquered and as the Gual said to the Roman “Woe to the Conquered!”
OOPS! Gual=Gaul
Makes you wonder if the GOP got Gregg to drop out and not his new boss.
"Yippy, I get to run the census."
This is a Constitutional issue. The Constitution specifies that the Commerce Dept. is in charge of the Census. The Republicans should take it to the Supreme Court.
Why isn’t anyone saying anything about this?
The Department of Commerce was started in 1903.
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