Trump Census Bureau candidate wins Senate confirmation: NPR



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President Trump's nominee for the Census Bureau, Steven Dillingham (center), speaks with Senator Ron Johnson, R-Wisc. At the October 3 confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs.

Bill Clark / CQ-Roll Call, Inc.


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Bill Clark / CQ-Roll Call, Inc.

President Trump's nominee to the Census Bureau, Steven Dillingham (center), speaks with Senator Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., At the confirmation hearing October 3 before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs.

Clark / CQ-Roll Call, Inc.

The Senate voted for Steven Dillingham, President Trump's candidate, to hold the first position in the US Census Bureau

By unanimous vote the Senate confirmed the nomination of Dillingham, proposed by the White House. Last July. Prior to that, he headed small federal agencies, including the Bureau of Justice Statistics and the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

A year or so before the start of the next national census, scheduled for January 2020 in Toksook Bay, Alaska, Dillingham's confirmation comes at a critical juncture in the preparations for the 2020 census.

The office should join the Office of Government Editions to announce the appointment of a new printer for questionnaires, letters and other documents in 2020. census material after the GPO officials spoiled the initial contract award. Census Bureau officials are also concerned about the cybersecurity risks that accompany allowing all households to submit their personal information online for the first time in the history of the US Census.

The largest statistical agency of the federal government has not had permanent leadership. for more than a year. Former director John Thompson resigned in June 2017, and Ron Jarmin, a career director of the bureau's economic programs, was appointed acting director. Jarmin should now become permanent deputy director of the agency

At his confirmation hearing in October, Dillingham avoided taking a public stance on one of the most controversial issues of the office: the decision of the Trump administration in March to add a question. on the citizenship status of the United States until the census of 2020.

More than two dozen states and of cities, as well as other groups are pursuing the administration in an attempt to obtain the suppressed issue. Seven prosecutions in total have been initiated in the country.

The administration claims that the Department of Justice wishes the citizenship issue to help enforce the law on the right to vote. The complainants indicate that, according to Census Bureau research, the issue is likely to discourage households of non-citizens from participating in the enumeration and threatening the accuracy of the information collected for the 2020 Census.

"I do not know I do not intend to make his voice heard an opinion on this issue, "Dillingham told the senators in October, pointing out that he was turning to the courts to decide whether the office would follow through on projects for the issue.

"It will be my responsibility if it is confirmed," he added. "to administer the decennial census in accordance with this judicial decision."

A federal judge in New York is expected to announce the first district court decision in the legal battle over the issue of citizenship in the near future.

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