Dr. Robert Groves

Confirmed as 

Director of the Census Bureau 

Yesterday, the U.S. Senate voted 76-15 to end the debate on the nomination of Dr. Robert Groves as the Director of the U.S.Census Bureau.  This vote overcame the objections of several Republicans more than three months after President Obama nominated the renowned survey methodologist and former Census Associate Director to head the nation's largest statistical agency. The Senate then proceeded to approve Dr. Gates by a voice vote.

Sen. Thomas Carper (D-DE), chairman of the census oversight subcommittee, said that the census was mandated in the Constitution and that conducting the Census was the largest peacetime project of the federal government. . Conducting the Census required years of preparation and the hiring and training of thousands people to work in the field..  Sen. Carper called Dr. Groves "an inspired choice" and said the nominee was "ideally suited to this position" because of his credentials in survey methodology and his prior experience as a senior Census Bureau official.

Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), introduced the nominee at his confirmation hearing,  and said that  Dr. Groves "may be the best candidate ever nominated for this position." Dr. Groves holds Master of Arts degrees in statistics and sociology and a doctorate in sociology from the University of Michigan and most recently served as Director of the University's Survey Research Center, Institute for Social Research. Sen. Levin noted that six former Census Directors, appointed by both Republican and Democratic presidents, had written a letter in support of Dr. Groves' nomination.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), the senior Republican on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, addressed the concerns of colleagues that the Obama administration will politicize the census for partisan purposes reviewing  Dr. Groves' pledges under oath at his confirmation hearing "to resign and actively work to stop any action to improperly influence the census for political gain.

The President named Dr. Groves to head the Census Bureau on April 2, but the nomination stalled after Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) and Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) objected to a confirmation vote until they received assurances from the Administration that there would not be a statistical adjustment of the 2010 census and that the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) would not play a role in the decennial count. During today's debate on a motion to "invoke cloture," or end debate, on the nomination, Sen. Vitter said he had written to the Administration in June, asking for assurances that ACORN -- one of thousands of official 2010 Census partners that have agreed to promote participation in the census -- "will have nothing to do with the census." Sen. Shelby said that he had sought similar assurances from the Administration in March. Both senators said they had not received responses to their questionsproved his nomination on May 20. .