Census News Brief: Locke Confirmation Moving Through Senate; Gao Faults System Testing Plans For 2010 Census
Census Project by Terri Ann Lowenthal
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 [dot] com (TerriAnn2K [at] aol [dot] 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.
