[CTPP] Census News Brief

[Ed Christopher]

LOCKE CONFIRMATION MOVING THROUGH SENATE; GAO FAULTS SYSTEM TESTING 
PLANS FOR 2010 CENSUS
Plus: New Legislation; Recent Funding News; Congressional Oversight; 
Stakeholder Activities

On March 19, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
Transportation unanimously approved former Washington Governor Gary 
Locke to be Secretary of Commerce, sending the nomination to the full 
Senate for a vote.  The committee agreed to Gov. Locke’s nomination one 
day after the President’s third nominee for the Cabinet post with 
responsibility for the decennial census assured committee members at his 
confirmation hearing that the Census director would continue to report 
to the Commerce Secretary and that the Census Bureau had no plans to use 
statistical sampling methods in the 2010 census to produce population 
figures.

Committee Chairman John D. (Jay) Rockefeller (D-WV) called the Commerce 
Secretary position “undeniably crucial to the improvement of our 
economy” and Gov. Locke, “a man with his finger on the pulse of what 
direction America must head toward in generations to come.”  The 
chairman urged quick Senate confirmation of the nominee.

The committee’s senior Republican, Co-Chairman Kay Bailey Hutchison 
(R-TX), said in her opening statement that she “was pleased to hear your 
position that the census will stay in the Department of Commerce and it 
will be handled on a professional basis,” referring to the traditional 
courtesy meeting she had with Gov. Locke in the days before the 
confirmation hearing.  In an exchange with Sen. Hutchison later in the 
hearing about the use of statistical sampling methods to adjust the 
census count, Gov. Locke noted that the Supreme Court had ruled (in 
1999) that the Census Act (Title 13, U.S.C., §195) prohibits the use of 
sampling to produce the state population totals used for congressional 
apportionment and said the Commerce Department “will enforce the law.” 
The nominee pointed to other, acceptable uses of sampling, including to 
measure census accuracy and to collect a wider range of data about the 
nation’s demographic and economic characteristics.

Sen. Hutchison pressed Gov. Locke as to whether the Census Bureau would 
statistically adjust the census numbers for purposes other than 
apportionment, such as redistricting.  Gov. Locke said there are “no 
plans in the Department of Commerce or the Census Bureau to use any type 
of statistical sampling with respect to population count.”

On February 26, after President Obama nominated Gov. Locke for the 
Commerce post, Rep. Patrick McHenry wrote to the Governor, asking him if 
he “intended to comply with the partisan ambitions of the President or 
to fulfill your constitutional obligation as Secretary of Commerce and 
oversee a fair and accurate 2010 Decennial Census?”  The ranking 
Republican on the House Subcommittee on Information Policy, Census, and 
National Archives cited in his letter the “Administration’s plan to 
circumvent the authority of the Secretary of Commerce and place the 
traditionally non-partisan census under White House influence.”  White 
House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, in response to a reporter’s question 
the previous day about Gov. Locke’s nomination, said, “The director of 
the census always would report to the Secretary of Commerce.”  The week 
before Gov. Locke’s confirmation hearing, White House spokeman Benjamin 
LaBolt issued another statement to clarify the Administration’s role in 
overseeing the decennial census.  “The president wants to ensure that 
the census conducts a fair and accurate count.  The census director will 
report to the commerce secretary,” Mr. LaBolt said.  “Like in every 
census under Democratic or Republican administrations, there will be 
interest in Congress and at the White House in this national priority.”

Rep. McHenry also asked Gov. Locke if his goal was to “count every 
person or to employ statistical adjustment,” referring to what he called 
“partisans who advocate statistical ‘adjustment’ or extrapolation over 
precise counting.”  The Census Bureau did not recommend that the results 
of its post-2000 census coverage measurement survey be used to adjust 
the results to correct undercounts and overcounts.  In 1990, Census 
Director Barbara Everitt Bryant, appointed by President George H.W. 
Bush, did recommend an adjustment of the raw census counts based on the 
post-enumeration survey; Commerce Secretary Robert Mosbacher rejected 
the recommendation.

Meanwhile, eight professional associations, led by the American 
Statistical Association, sent a letter to President Obama on March 10, 
urging him to nominate a Census director quickly “because of the need 
for strong and decisive leadership in the decisions now being made in 
preparation for the 2010 Census.”

GAO cites “weaknesses” in 2010 census testing plans:  The Government 
Accountability Office (GAO), in a new report issued this month, 
concluded, “[C]ritical testing activities remain to be performed before 
systems will be ready to support the 2010 census.”  GAO officials told 
members of the Census Bureau’s House oversight subcommittee at a March 
5th hearing that while the agency has “made progress in conducting 
system, integration, and end-to-end testing for the 2010 census, [much] 
remains to be done.”  The auditing agency cited “lack of sufficient 
executive-level oversight and guidance on testing” as two key factors 
contributing to “weaknesses in the Bureau’s IT testing.”  The GAO report 
notes that the Census Bureau is “still in the preliminary phase of 
program planning and initial system development” for paper-based 
operations, which the Census Bureau will use instead of handheld 
computers to follow-up with unresponsive households during the census. 
The 2008 Dress Rehearsal, GAO said, included end-to-end testing for some 
(e.g. address canvassing and group quarters validation) but not all 
(e.g. nonresponse follow-up, enumeration of transitory locations, and 
group quarters enumeration) key census operations.

The report, “Information Technology: Census Bureau Testing of 2010 
Decennial Systems Can Be Strengthened” (GAO-09-262), is available 
on-line at http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d09262.pdf.  Statements and 
testimony from the hearing of the House Subcommittee on Information 
Policy, Census, and National Archives are available at 
http://informationpolicy.oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=2318.

The Senate Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government 
Information, Federal Services, and International Security also held a 
hearing on March 5, “Lessons Learned: How the New Administration Can 
Achieve an Accurate and Cost-Effective 2010 Census,” featuring two 
former Census directors, GAO, and other census experts.  In addition to 
noting that “a number of operations and support systems still need to be 
designed, planned, or tested,” GAO expressed concern about the cost of 
the 2010 census, saying the Census Bureau “finds itself lacking 
sufficient policies, procedures, and trained staff to develop 
high-quality cost estimates[.]”  “[U]ncertainties surround the Bureau’s 
readiness for 2010,” GAO cautioned.  Hearing statements and testimony 
are available at 
http://hsgac.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?Fuseaction=Hearings.Detail&HearingID=722ce442-5f68-4d22-b9ad-e0b25919a41b. 


Legislation would create an independent Census Bureau:  Reps. Carolyn 
Maloney (D-NY), Charles Gonzalez (D-TX), Charlie Dent (R-PA), and Jim 
Gerlach (R-PA) introduced legislation (H.R. 1254) to establish the U.S. 
Census Bureau as an independent federal agency and to create a fixed, 
five-year term of service for the Census director, all starting in 2012. 
  The head of the Census Bureau currently is appointed by the President 
and confirmed by the U.S. Senate and serves at the pleasure of the 
President; Census directors routinely resign at the end of a President’s 
term of office.

In a press statement announcing introduction of the bill, Rep. Maloney, 
a member of the Census Bureau’s oversight subcommittee, said the 
agency’s work “is too important to be a stepchild of a larger 
organization – buffeted by year-to-year budget whims and political 
storms,” a reference to the Department of Commerce of which the bureau 
is a part.  She suggested that an independent Census Bureau could 
“conduct its ten-year planning, testing and execution process without 
interference.”  Rep. Dent said that Congress must “assure the American 
public of the Census’ integrity, objectivity and dedication to its 
crucial task.”

Some Republicans questioned the benefits of removing the Census Bureau 
from the Commerce Department.  A spokesman for Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), 
the senior Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform 
Committee, said, “Simply turning a troubled agency loose at this time is 
not the answer.”

Seven former Census directors signed a letter in support of the 
“Restoring the Integrity of American Statistics Act” when it was first 
introduced in the last Congress.  The former agency heads, who served in 
both Republican and Democratic Administrations, said Americans must have 
confidence that census numbers are produced by an “independent, 
non-partisan, apolitical, and scientific” agency.  They noted that the 
Census Bureau’s activities are not always a priority for the large 
Commerce Department and that the Census director could offer “more 
timely and thorough responses” to Congress if it had direct access to 
lawmakers.

Ten stakeholder organizations, led by the American Statistical 
Association and including the National Association of Latino Elected and 
Appointed Officials (NALEO), also sent a letter of support to Rep. 
Maloney that noted the independent status of several other federal 
research agencies.

Congress finishes funding bill for 2009:  Congress gave final approval 
to, and the President signed, an omnibus spending bill for the remainder 
of Fiscal Year 2009 (FY2009), which ends on September 30.  Public Law 
111-8 includes $3.14 billion for the Census Bureau, the amount requested 
by the Bush Administration last year.  About $2.7 billion of the 
appropriation is for 2010 census preparations.  (See the February 24 
Census News Brief for more details on census funding in this bill.)

Congressional oversight hearings continue:  The House Subcommittee on 
Information Policy, Census, and National Archives will hold a hearing to 
examine the 2010 census Regional Partnership Program on March 23, at 
10:00 AM in Room 2154 Rayburn House Office Building.  Witnesses include 
Acting Census Director Thomas Mesenbourg and other Census Bureau 
officials; New York City’s 2010 census coordinator; and representatives 
of the Government Accountability Office and Draftfcb, the 2010 census 
Communications Campaign contractor.

Last week, Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (GA), chair of the Republican Census 
Task Force and a member of the census oversight subcommittee, raised 
concerns that the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now 
(known as ACORN) had signed on as an official 2010 census “partner.” 
Rep. Westmoreland told FOXNews.com that, “all the different charges of 
voter fraud … should be the concern of every citizen in the country.  We 
want an enumeration.  We don’t want to have any false numbers.” 
FOXNews.com called ACORN a “group with a history of voter fraud” in a 
March 18 report, citing charges against a handful of ACORN employees 
during the last election cycle for fraudulent voter registrations.  A 
spokesman for the non-profit organization told the news outlet that, 
“ACORN as an organization has not been charged with any crime.”  The 
group, which calls itself the “nation’s largest grassroots community 
organization of low- and moderate-income people,” said it is “committed 
to a fair and accurate count.”  Another member of the Census Bureau’s 
oversight panel, Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), said that he is “fairly 
confident that the penalties for an individual manipulating the count 
are pretty severe.”

In 2000, tens of thousands of national and community-based 
organizations, businesses, and state and local governments were part of 
the Census Bureau’s Partnership Program, widely credited with helping to 
stem the decline in census mail response.  The Census Bureau asks its 
“partners” to help recruit census workers and provide space for testing 
and training temporary employees, distribute census materials, and 
sponsor community events to promote the census.

Stakeholder activities highlight 2010 census:  With the start of the 
2010 census only a year away, stakeholder organizations are highlighting 
the importance of an accurate count and mobilizing their constituencies 
across the country to promote participation.

The National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials 
(NALEO) and the Brookings Institution hosted a discussion on “Politics, 
Policy, and the 2010 Decennial Census,” moderated by NPR News Senior 
Washington Editor Ron Elving, in Washington, DC, on March 18.  (A 
summary, transcript, and audio recording are available at 
http://www.brookings.edu/events/2009/0318_census.aspx.)

The National Coalition on Black Civic Participation is hosting a “Census 
2010 Call to Action Leadership Summit,” featuring presentations by 
senior Census Bureau officials and program heads.  Members of the 
Congressional Black Caucus also will participate in the March 23 event.

The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights will mobilize its national 
network of social and economic justice organizations in support of the 
2010 census with a conference call on March 24.  As part of its “Calling 
for Justice” series, LCCR will focus on “Making the Count Right: 
Achieving an Accurate 2010 Census for Underrepresented Communities.”

On March 25, a coalition of Latino organizations -- including Voto 
Latino, the National Institute of Latino Policy, MALDEF, and LULAC -- 
are hosting “The State of Latinos: Census 2010.”  Members of the 
Congressional Hispanic Caucus and census oversight subcommittees, as 
well as senior Census Bureau staff, will join the discussion.  (For more 
information about any of these events, please visit the web sites of the 
sponsoring organizations.)

Census News Briefs are prepared by Terri Ann Lowenthal, a legislative 
and policy consultant working with a wide range of census stakeholders 
to promote an accurate 2010 census.  All views expressed in the News 
Briefs are solely those of the author.  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 and to reprint any or all 
of the information.  Ms. Lowenthal is a consultant to the nonpartisan 
Census Project, organized by the Communications Consortium Media Center 
in Washington, DC.  Previous Census News Briefs are posted at 
www.thecensusproject.org.

-- 
Ed Christopher
708-283-3534 (V)
708-574-8131 (cell)

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