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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...

<p>WASHINGTON – Republican Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire abruptly withdrew his nomination as commerce secretary Thursday, the third Cabinet-level pick scuttled. The move left President Barack Obama without a full team to lead the government. He cited "irresolvable conflicts" with Obama's handling of the economic stimulus and 2010 census.</p>

A rather pointed statement from White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs: “Senator Gregg reached out to the President and offered his name for Secretary of Commerce. He was very clear throughout the interviewing process that despite past disagreements about policies, he would support, embrace, and move forward with the President’s agenda. Once it became clear after his nomination that Senator Gregg was not going to be supporting some of President Obama’s key economic priorities, it became necessary for Senator Gregg and the Obama administration to part ways. We regret that he has had a change of heart.”

With Republicans increasingly critical of President Obama's decision to increase White House oversight of next year's census, some Democrats are downplaying the move, saying it is not even official yet. Obama's plan to have the Census director report to the White House in addition to the Commerce Department has sparked protest from some Republicans, who accuse the president of a political power grab. One GOP lawmaker is pushing for an investigation into the planned move. "I think this is way too premature," said Democratic consultant Dan Gerstein, claiming that this was all started by an "unnamed White House source saying...

A Republican lawmaker is calling for an investigation of a plan by the Obama administration to have the U.S. census managed by White House staff. Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, fears that the move could jeopardize a reliable census in 2010. That, in turn, could trigger allegations of political chicanery in redrawing the lines that determine districts and help shape electoral fortunes. "I'm deeply concerned" about "the White House controlling the day-to-day operations of the Census Bureau," Blackburn told Fox News. Obama's plan, she wrote in a letter to the committee requesting...

President Obama said in his inaugural address that he planned to "restore science to its rightful place" in government. That's a worthy goal. But statisticians at the Commerce Department didn't think it would mean having the director of next year's Census report directly to the White House rather than to the Commerce secretary, as is customary. "There's only one reason to have that high level of White House involvement," a career professional at the Census Bureau tells me. "And it's called politics, not science." The decision was made last week after California Rep. Barbara Lee, chair of the Congressional Black...

The Obama administration is ending the Census Bureau's traditional autonomy – a move that has Republicans outraged over the White House's politicization of counting Americans. Last week, an administration official revealed that the yet-to-be-named director of the Census Bureau will report to the White House rather than Commerce Secretary nominee Judd Gregg, a Republican. That prompted a blistering response from two key Republicans on the House Oversight and Government Reform 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...

Obama's control over census likely illegal.

By Matthew Vadum Saturday, February 7, 2009 With all of Washington and most of the media mesmerized by debate on the porkulus bill, little attention has been paid to what appears to be an unconstitutional power grab by President Obama. The Obama administration reportedly wants the U.S. Census to be run directly out of the White House, as opposed to by a politically insulated official within the Department of Commerce. This would apparently be unprecedented and unlawful because federal law provides that the Census must be administered by the Commerce Department. Former Census director Bruce Chapman warns that no good...

J. Bonnie Newman, the woman poised to become New Hampshire's newest senator, has spent 40 years moving among high-profile jobs in politics, academia and the business world. But even for her colleagues and admirers, the precise contours of Newman's personal politics are unclear. Newman, a 63-year-old Republican, has never run for public office, never cast a legislative vote, never outlined a campaign platform. Colleagues, both Democrats and Republicans, describe her as a nonideological problem-solver - with a wicked sense of humor and a serious golf habit. They praise her work ethic and her ability to bring together people of differing...

The power grab continues. My bet is that Old Media will also maintain its studied ignorance of this development, despite years of whining about alleged Executive Branch excesses during the Bush administration. Now it looks like Barack Obama's inner circle is going to teach the Census Bureau how to count in 2010. CQpolitics.com this morning reported that the White House is taking the next decennial census away from the Commerce Department, and keeping it for itself.

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,...

The Right Man at Commerce By Andrew Cline FrontPageMagazine.com | Thursday, February 05, 2009 Announcing his selection of New Hampshire Republican Sen. Judd Gregg for secretary of commerce this week, President Barack Obama said Gregg will “be an outstanding addition to the depth and experience of my economic team, a trusted voice in my Cabinet.” The question for conservatives and for the country is, how trusted? If President Obama truly listens to Sen. Gregg and takes his advice, we are likely to get a stimulus package much better for the country than the one being considered in the Senate this...

The director of the Census Bureau will report directly to the White House and not the secretary of Commerce, according to a senior White House official. The decision came after black and Hispanic leaders raised questions about Commerce Secretary nominee Judd Gregg ’s commitment to funding the census. Gregg, New Hampshire’s senior senator, voted in committee and on the floor for a 1995 Republican budget that envisioned the elimination of the Commerce Department. Of even more concern to black and Hispanic leaders, Gregg battled President Clinton over a request for “emergency” funding for the 2000 census. “Secretary of Commerce-designate Judd...

If you watch the video, you’ll see all the reasons, as expressed on her MSNBC show tonight, that Rachel Maddow doesn’t like Judd Gregg as Secretary of Commerce: * He’s a Republican * He won’t be replaced by a Dem senator from New Hampshire * One of his staffers is caught up in the Abramoff mess * He voted to abolish the Department of Commerce * Did I mention he’s a Republican? OK. Fine. Good. But all those kvetches are ultimately criticisms not of Gregg, but of . . . Barack Obama View video.

The significance of Obama's naming Gregg at Commerce was lost amid the Daschle disaster yesterday. No one in Washington has been more persistent or more passionate about reining in entitlement programs, which the GAO tallies at $53 trillion in unfunded liabilities. Today Gregg said Obama "specifically asked me to come down to address this." The Commerce post is traditionally a shill for business interests and a plum handed out to a president's closest political ally or fundraiser. That's what the originial pick, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson would have been. Naming Gregg means Obama has in mind something entirely different....

Others have written on the Gregg appointment. I want to make one observation: the Commerce Department includes the Bureau of the Census. Ten years ago the Clinton administration attempted to use sampling instead of an actual headcount for the Census enumeration which is used for reapportioning the House of Representatives and for redistricting of all kinds. It was resisted by the Republican Congress, notably by Florida Congressman Dan Miller, who chaired the relevant House subcommittee. And it was finally abandoned after career Census Bureau statisticians, who like most professional statisticians prefer sampling to headcounts, conceded that they could not guarantee...

In the midst of all the tax dodging and CIA prison shutdowns the Obama administration in the spirit of bi-partisanship tapped NH Senator Judd Gregg to fill the spot that Bill Richardson had to abandon. Judd Gregg worked some special deal where the NH Democrat Governor would be obligated to select a Republican to fill Gregg's vacancy. Not much is known about Bonnie Newman, but so far it appears that she is a moderate. If it were not for the unbearable squealing from the DailyKos I would think that our senate situation has worsened, but I have a feeling that...

President ObamaÂ’s new candidate to run the Commerce Department voted in favor of abolishing the agency as a member of the Budget Committee and on the Senate floor in 1995. Sen. Judd Gregg , R-N.H., whose nomination was expected to be announced Tuesday, also worked in the Senate to trim the departmentÂ’s budget as head of the Commerce-Justice-Science Appropriations Subcommittee. GreggÂ’s 1995 votes were cast for the fiscal 1996 budget resolution, a nonbinding blueprint that outlined the GOPÂ’s fiscal priorities after Republicans won full control of Congress for the first time in 40 years. The Senate version of the controversial...