Thread by @hansilowang

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:

https://twitter.com/hansilowang/status/1354102619359350790

@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:

https://twitter.com/hansilowang/status/1353028285119287299

@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:

@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:

https://twitter.com/hansilowang/status/1345097666544472065

@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."

@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:

@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

https://twitter.com/hansilowang/status/1354121905951879173

@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:

https://twitter.com/hansilowang/status/1353758539181862919