Reform for the Next Census

[Commentary] When a bipartisan group of House and Senate lawmakers introduced a bill this year to improve the census, passage seemed inevitable. With the 2010 count under way, people were paying attention. And the bill, which grants the Census Bureau director more independence, is a smart response to the chronic problems that have plagued census planning: fragmented leadership, political interference and not enough financing.

The Obama administration, which should be supporting the bill, is instead raising objections. It has objected to a provision that would allow the census director to report directly to the commerce secretary. It also has objected to a provision that would require the director to send Congress the bureau's budget request at the same time it goes to the White House. The census was in dire straits when President Obama took office, and it took a while for the administration to get organized. The 2010 count is now on track, thanks to the efforts of Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and Robert Groves, the bureau director — both Obama appointees. But the point of the reform bill is to ensure that the bureau functions well in all administrations. For that, the director needs what this legislation would provide: the autonomy to communicate problems to the commerce secretary and to Congress in a direct and timely way.

A LA Times op-ed argues that by counting illegal immigrants the same as citizens in the census, some states get more congressional seats than they deserve.