After Feb. 1, the Census Bureau is likely to have a new confirmed commerce secretary who intends to depoliticize the count and listen to its experts to ensure that 2020 census results are accurate.

My write-up of Gov. @GinaRaimondo’s confirmation hearing:
npr.org/2021/01/26/960…
@GinaRaimondo 2. If confirmed, Raimondo would oversee a Census Bureau that had been caught in a partisan firestorm during the Trump administration, when the expertise of civil servants was repeatedly overruled and undermined.

Raimondo is signaling a different approach:
@GinaRaimondo 3. Until today's hearing, Raimondo had not made a single public comment about the census since being named as President Biden's pick for commerce secretary — not at the Jan. 8 event where Biden introduced Raimondo and not in this:
@GinaRaimondo 4. During the hearing, Raimondo was asked three questions about the census. It's likely to be one of the most urgent issues facing Raimondo as commerce secretary, but apparently not urgent enough to be one of the first question topics at Raimondo's confirmation hearing: While the opening remarks of the committee's incoming chair,
@GinaRaimondo 5. When responding to Sen. @brianschatz, who asked the 1st question about the census, Raimondo referenced an earlier conversation they had about the count.

For some context, Schatz has been following the 2020 census for years and is set to do this soon:
@GinaRaimondo @brianschatz 6. @SenatorTester asked Raimondo for ideas for improving the accuracy of the 2020 census numbers. Raimondo deferred on offering specific suggestions but said she looks forward "to being confirmed...listening to the [bureau's] experts...& relying on their assessment & evaluation." "It's generally believed that because of the pandemic a
@GinaRaimondo @brianschatz @SenatorTester 7. Raimondo said as commerce secretary, she would commit to "doing everything" she can to "rebuild people's trust in the census" after @SenatorSinema raised these concerns about what the Trump administration did to the census process: "The previous administration harmed the nonpartisan his
@GinaRaimondo @brianschatz @SenatorTester @SenatorSinema 8. So far, all signs point to Raimondo's confirmation, but when she'd take over from the acting commerce secretary, Wynn Coggins, remains unclear beyond sometime after Feb. 1, when Raimondo's written responses to any Senate Commerce Committee Qs are due
@GinaRaimondo @brianschatz @SenatorTester @SenatorSinema 9. Meanwhile, the Biden administration has been lining up other Commerce appointees who do not require lawmakers' approval and will have a hand in planning for the last stages of the 2020 census:

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More from @hansilowang

27 Jan
BREAKING: The 2020 census results used to determine each state’s share of votes in the House of Representatives and the Electoral College for the next 10 years are now expected to be released on April 30, Census Bureau official Kathleen Styles announced during @NCSLorg webinar
@NCSLorg 2. These first results from the 2020 census, now expected on April 30, are the latest state population counts used for congressional reapportionment. Styles said the release date for the redistricting data states need to redraw voting districts remains unclear.
@NCSLorg 3. Here's the Census Bureau's current schedule for putting together the 2020 census apportionment counts (NB: redistricting data's release data is still TBD) Image
Read 6 tweets
27 Jan
The first results from the Census Bureau's new Household Pulse Survey questions about the COVID-19 vaccines are in
2. Fewer than 1 in 10 adults in the U.S. have received a COVID-19 vaccine so far, the Census Bureau estimates
3. ICYMI, this month the Census Bureau's Household Pulse Survey (the one the bureau's texting and emailing people about) started asking about people's plans to get a COVID-19 vaccine:
Read 5 tweets
27 Jan
You regular reminder that the 2020 census is not over yet — and the Biden administration is on track to have a permanent Cabinet-level official in place next month to oversee the release of the first set of numbers, which are expected in early March:
npr.org/2021/01/26/960…
2. The first census results to be released are the latest state population counts used to determine each state's share of votes in the House of Representatives and the Electoral College for the next 10 years. Those numbers were legally due on Dec. 31, but the pandemic...
3. ...and the Trump admin's last-minute schedule changes disrupted the Census Bureau's plans for quality checks that make sure no person living in the U.S. is counted more than once or in the wrong place.

The delay means redistricting will also likely be delayed.

Stay tuned.
Read 4 tweets
26 Jan
Here are Gov. @GinaRaimondo's first public comments on the census since becoming President Biden's commerce secretary nominee (in response to the first question about the census at Raimondo's confirmation hearing, asked more than an hour into the hearing by Sen. @brianschatz): “I believe that we need to take the politics out of the ce
@GinaRaimondo @brianschatz 2. @GinaRaimondo responds to the second question about the census at her confirmation hearing, asked by @SenatorTester (D-Mont.): “First, we have to take the politics out. And secondly, yo
@GinaRaimondo @brianschatz @SenatorTester 3. How @GinaRaimondo responded to the third question about the census at her confirmation hearing, asked by @SenatorSinema (D-Ariz.): “I commit to taking the politics out of census, relying on
Read 4 tweets
26 Jan
President Biden's pick for the next commerce secretary to oversee the Census Bureau, Rhode Island Gov. @GinaRaimondo, is set to testify before @SenateCommerce Committee starting at 10 a.m. ET

Stream: commerce.senate.gov/2021/1/nominat…

More on Raimondo & the census:
npr.org/sections/biden…
@GinaRaimondo @SenateCommerce 3. Outgoing chair of the @SenateCommerce Committee @SenatorWicker (R-Miss.) says he expects the Senate confirmation of Gov. @GinaRaimondo's as the next commerce secretary "will certainly occur."
Read 15 tweets
25 Jan
NEW: The Biden administration has appointed Meghan Maury — policy director of @TheTaskForce and a former member of the Census Bureau's National Advisory Committee on Racial, Ethnic, and Other Populations — as a senior adviser at the bureau Meghan Maury - Senior Advisor, U.S. Census Bureau
@TheTaskForce 2. Meghan Maury is well versed in the challenges facing the Census Bureau and the 2020 census, which Maury has been tracking for years as a NAC member and census advocate:
@TheTaskForce 3. Given Maury's track record of advocating for equal rights for LGBTQ people, it's worth noting that both President Biden and Vice President Harris have supported adding sexual orientation & gender identity questions to the 2030 census & federal surveys:
npr.org/2020/11/14/932…
Read 4 tweets

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