[CTPP] CENSUS NEWS BRIEF

Mon Feb 23 14:03:48 CST 2009

Dear edc and All,
     i am retiring in three weeks.  Please remove my name from your email list.  Thank you.l

  ________________________________  
  Richard Lin, Ph.D.
  Senior Estimates Demographer
  Colorado Department of Local Affairs
  State Demography Office
  1313 Sherman Street, Room 521
  Denver, CO  80203
  Phone: (303)866-4989
       Fax:: (303)866-2660
  richard.lin at state.co.us
  www.DOLA.Colorado.Gov

>>> edc at berwyned.com 2/3/2009 8:16 AM >>>
PRESIDENT SELECTS SEN. GREGG FOR COMMERCE SECRETARY;
SENATE CONSIDERS $1B FOR CENSUS IN STIMULUS BILL
Plus:  House Passes Stimulus Funds for Census

President Obama has selected Senator Judd Gregg, Republican of New 
Hampshire, to be his Commerce Secretary.  The post would give Sen. Gregg 
authority over the Census Bureau and upcoming decennial census.  The 
Census Bureau is part of the Commerce Department’s Economics and 
Statistics Administration (ESA), which also houses the Bureau of 
Economic Analysis (BEA).

Sen. Gregg, a three-term senator, former representative, and former New 
Hampshire governor, is the ranking Republican on the Senate Budget 
Committee and a member of the Appropriations Committee.  He is a member 
and former chairman of the Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, and 
Science (formerly Commerce, Justice, and State), which funds the Census 
Bureau.  The biography posted on his official web site highlights his 
interest in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 
another large Commerce Department agency.

Sen. Gregg chaired the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, 
Justice, and State during the 2000 census.  In 1999, he questioned the 
Administration’s request for additional census funding for fiscal year 
2000; the Census Bureau had asked for an extra $1.7 billion after a 
Supreme Court decision forced it to redesign non-response follow-up 
operations.  The House of Representatives had approved the full $4.5 
billion for the census year, while the Senate allocated the $2.8 billion 
the Administration had sought before the Court ruling in a case 
challenging the use of sampling to compile census population counts used 
for congressional apportionment.  Sen. Gregg especially questioned the 
House’s proposal to designate all census funding for 2000 as “emergency” 
spending, which would remove the allocation from under tight budget 
caps.  The impasse over census funding helped delay passage of final 
spending bills for 2000; Congress eventually approved the full funding 
request, designating the entire amount as an “emergency.”

The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation will hold 
confirmation hearings for Sen. Gregg, while the Homeland Security and 
Governmental Affairs Committee will be responsible for confirming a 
Census director.  President Obama has not yet nominated an Under 
Secretary for Economic Affairs, who oversees the ESA, or Census Bureau 
director; both positions require Senate confirmation.

Economic stimulus bill includes extra funds for 2010 census: On January 
28, by a vote of 244 * 188, the U.S. House of Representatives approved 
an $819 economic stimulus bill (H.R. 1) that includes $1 billion in 
additional funds for the 2010 census.  No Republican lawmakers supported 
the bill.

The stimulus package requested by President Obama is also working its 
way through the U.S. Senate.  Last week, the Committee on Appropriations 
approved its own version of the economic recovery package (S. 336), 
which includes $1 billion for the 2010 census.  The funds would be 
available until September 30, 2010.  The Census Bureau is required by 
law to report state population totals to the President by December 31, 
2010, and detailed populations counts to the states for redistricting 
purposes by April 1, 2011.

Committee report language (S. Rept. 111-3) directs the Census Bureau to 
use $780 million to hire more census takers “to count underserved 
communities”; $120 million to expand the Partnership Program, “with 
specific focus being placed on hard to reach populations”; and $100 
million to increase outreach and promotion “to minority communities.” 
Appropriators suggested that the Census Bureau hire additional staff who 
are experienced with partnership programs and are trusted community 
leaders who can convey the importance of participating in the census to 
“hard to reach” populations.

The full Senate is considering the package this week.  Amendments to 
strip or reduce some of the funding from the bill, including the 
proposed $1 billion for the 2010 census, are possible.

The House version of the “American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 
2009” does not lay out as many specific dollar amounts for spending the 
additional money, instead saying more broadly that the Census Bureau 
should “hire additional personnel, provide required training, increase 
targeted media purchases, and improve management of other operational 
and programmatic risks to ensure a successful decennial.”  The Census 
Bureau should use $150 million for “expanded communications and outreach 
programs to minimize undercounting of minority groups,” according to the 
House Appropriations committee.

An analysis of the economic stimulus package by Robert Santos of the 
Urban Institute, a Washington, DC think-tank, concludes that the 
proposed spending for the 2010 census “would provide an infusion of new 
jobs, better community participation and a more accurate census.”  Dr. 
Santos calls the census “a shovel-ready infrastructure project,” a 
reference to one of President Obama’s criteria for including projects in 
a stimulus package.  The analysis is available on-line at 
http://www.urban.org/issues/recovery.cfm#santos.

Senator urges quick appointment of Census Director: Senator Thomas 
Carper (D-DE), chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Federal Financial 
Management, Government Information, Federal Services, and International 
Security (Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs), sent 
a letter to President Obama on January 28, urging him to “move quickly 
to fill the top leadership at the Commerce Department and the Census 
Bureau with individuals with the knowledge and the management skills 
necessary to get the ongoing preparations for the 2010 Census back on 
track for good.”  The chairman said that “serious challenges in managing 
key information technology activities” and reduced spending on 
advertising and outreach have led the Government Accountability Office 
(GAO) to designate the 2010 census as a “high risk” federal program. 
Sen. Carper called on the President to make the “overall success [of the 
census] a top priority of your Administration.”

The Federal Financial Management panel has tentatively scheduled an 
oversight hearing for February 25 to review the status of planning for 
the 2010 census.

Census News Briefs are prepared by Terri Ann Lowenthal, a consultant to 
the nonpartisan Census Project, organized by the Communications 
Consortium Media Center in Washington, DC.  Please direct questions 
about the information in this News Brief to Ms. Lowenthal at 
TerriAnn2K at aol.com.  Please feel free to circulate this document to 
other interested individuals and organizations.  Previous Census News 
Briefs are posted at www.thecensusproject.org 

-- 
Ed Christopher
Resource Center Planning Team
Federal Highway Administration
19900 Governors Drive
Olympia Fields, Illinois  60461
708-283-3534 (V)  708-574-8131 (cell)
708-283-3501 (F)

_______________________________________________
ctpp-news mailing list
ctpp-news at chrispy.net 
http://www.chrispy.net/mailman/listinfo/ctpp-news
-------------- next part --------------
BEGIN:VCARD
VERSION:2.1
X-GWTYPE:USER
FN:Richard Lin
TEL;WORK:303-866-4989
ORG:;DLG
TEL;PREF;FAX:303-866-2660
EMAIL;WORK;PREF:Richard.Lin at state.co.us
N:Lin;Richard
TEL;HOME:303-494-0559
END:VCARD