Thread: GOP Threatens Legal Action Against Obama for Census

House Republican leaders said Thursday they're ready to go to court against President Obama if he doesn't scuttle his plan to move the census into the purview of the Oval Office, saying it's an unconstitutional abuse of power.

Under Obama's plan, the director of the U.S. Census Bureau, who has yet to be named, would report to White House senior management in addition to the Commerce Department, which oversees the bureau.

A Senate committee has scheduled a hearing next month on the potential change. Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee are also pushing for an investigation.

GOP leaders sent Obama a letter to the White House on Wednesday demanding a reversal of the plan.

"If the president doesn't acquiesce to our letter, then we will seek the courts," said Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., a ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. "Ultimately I don't think there's any question among federal courts about whether or not this is a personal power of the presidency or whether or not executive privilege would be waived if he started doing functions like this."

House Republican leaders held a news conference Thursday denouncing Obama's plan and announcing the formation of a census task force to keep an eye on developments. Republicans displayed a large placard with a 2006 quote from White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel that read, "If you think redistricting is always partisan and political which it is, ¦it's going to be on steroids this time."

Census numbers determine everything from government pay-outs to how many people represent each state in Congress. Past censuses have sparked fights over issues as varied as how to ensure remote population groups are counted accurately to how such terms as "poverty" are defined.

The controversy began when Obama nominated Republican Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire to head the Commerce Deparment, which oversees the Census Bureau.

Gregg once voted for a broader budget measure that would have abolished the agency, and he opposed increased funding for the 2000 census. Gregg's record raised concerns about his commitment to an accurate census count, a priority for minority groups that have historically been undercounted.

The White House sought to soothe those concerns in a statement late last week reassuring that the census director would "work closely with White House senior management."

That in turn sparked an uproar from Republicans, who accused the White House of injecting partisan politics into the census and seeking to cut out agency professionals in favor of political operatives.

The White House issued a statement Wednesday, emphasizing Obama's commitment to a "complete and accurate count through a process that is free from politicization" even while seeking to explain that no real change was being made to the census director's chain of command.

"As they have in the past, White House senior management will work closely with the census director given the number of decisions that will need to reach the president's desk," said the statement from White House spokesman Benjamin LaBolt.

Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., who has pushed legislation to create an independent census agency, complained about the move by House Republicans, saying their "answer is to have a press conference and create a tempest over the Census Bureau, even before the president has had a chance to unpack his bags."

FOX News' Chad Pergram and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first10 ... ee-census/

I hope they start doing something really serious before they sell this country out. More than threaten.....somebody needs to have these things stopped before someone tries it again down the road.

I think they also should look into the legality of lobbying on immigration policy. Since when are people unlawfully present in this country allowed to call our Congress and influence policy?

Originally Posted by Captainron

I think they also should look into the legality of lobbying on immigration policy. Since when are people unlawfully present in this country allowed to call our Congress and influence policy?

Thank you! What the hell? I hope to gawd we can get this sob out of office.
But does that mean we end up with Biden as president?

Hmmm.............and we were looking forward to a country without Bush in charge. Damn, we just can't win for losing!

Keep Your Hands Off the 2010 Census, Republicans Tell the White House

Thursday, February 12, 2009
By Susan Jones, Senior Editor

(CNSNews.com) – House Republicans will defend the integrity of the U.S. Census at a Capitol Hill press conference on Thursday.

On Wednesday, they sent a letter to President Barack Obama, expressing “grave concernsâ€

Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., who has pushed legislation to create an independent census agency, complained about the move by House Republicans, saying their "answer is to have a press conference and create a tempest over the Census Bureau, even before the president has had a chance to unpack his bags."



This excuse can be left right by the side of the road where horsesh*t belongs

I'm getting a bit more than fed up with the "Give the guy a chance, he's just gotten started" defense.

obama has had a lot of years to hone his agenda and tactics. Both he, and whatever group of subversives he's working with, had their game plan in place a long time ago and at this point they are now merely setting it into motion.

The fact that he's "just gotten started" is a reason for alarm.

Originally Posted by MW

Hmmm.............and we were looking forward to a country without Bush in charge. Damn, we just can't win for losing!

MW, JustOneHero stated one time that with Obama as POTUS it will make the Bush years look like the good ole days. It is something I think about almost daily.



I love Issa. Thank God for him. I just sent him a fax this morning urging him to keep fighting for us.

"If the president doesn't acquiesce to our letter, then we will seek the courts," said Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., a ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. "Ultimately I don't think there's any question among federal courts about whether or not this is a personal power of the presidency or whether or not executive privilege would be waived if he started doing functions like this."

Originally Posted by Dagmar

Originally Posted by Captainron

I think they also should look into the legality of lobbying on immigration policy. Since when are people unlawfully present in this country allowed to call our Congress and influence policy?

Thank you! What the hell? I hope to gawd we can get this sob out of office.
But does that mean we end up with Biden as president?

To my mind phone calling by illegal aliens who, for all intents and purposes, are advancing the agenda of foreign entities----namely Mexico, Holy See, and the PAN party, are acting on behalf of foreign principals. This is regulated by the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, which is enforced against full time lobbyists. The FARA law may not spell out that foerign agents here illegally would also be included---presumably because they assumed our country would also have an effective immigration policy in place. I'm sure that in 1938 a German agent who was also here illegally and engaged in unregistered lobbying would be included.

Bringing 'Change' to the Census?
By Jon Feere, February 11, 2009

Illegal-immigration enthusiasts at the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) may be partially responsible for President Obama's recent decision to force the U.S. Census to report directly to the White House. According to Congressional Quarterly, the decision was made after NALEO issued a press release questioning the qualification of Obama's GOP appointee, saying:

Secretary of Commerce-designate Judd Gregg's record raises serious questions about his willingness to ensure that the 2010 census produces the most accurate possible count of the nation's population.

What makes the Census "accurate" according to NALEO? The inclusion of illegal aliens, of course. When the 2006 amnesty bill was being debated, NALEO opposed one component of the bill aimed at eliminating the practice of counting illegal aliens in the Census, saying:

S.2611 requires the Census Bureau to consider excluding undocumented immigrants from our Census enumeration for the reapportionment process. This exclusion would prevent our nation from obtaining an accurate Census count and achieving fair apportionment and representation in our nation.

While Senator Gregg's immigration record is a mixed bag, he is probably aware of how illegal immigration is dramatically warping congressional reapportionment. A Center for Immigration Studies report revealed that many low-immigration states which might seem unaffected by immigration are in fact experiencing a significant erosion of their political influence in Washington. For example, the presence of illegal aliens in high-immigration states caused Indiana, Michigan, and Mississippi to each lose one seat in the House in 2000, while Montana failed to gain a seat it otherwise would have. Illegal immigration not only redistributes seats in the House, it also affects presidential elections because the Electoral College is based on the size of congressional delegations.

Is Obama's plan to take greater control over the Census all about reapportionment? Congressmen in Utah's Republican delegation are suggesting it is. Interestingly, Utah failed to gain a seat it otherwise would have but for the inclusion of non-citizens in the 2000 Census.

http://www.cis.org/node/1036