Keep Politics Out of U.S. Census (Rep. Dan Lungren)

Every citizen has the Constitutional right to be counted honestly and fairly via an independent, non-political process.  The Administration has blatantly made an attempt to politicize the process by taking the inappropriate, unprecedented action of reassigning the U.S. Census responsibilities to White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel – who himself has openly admitted the great potential for corrupting the process.

The Administration’s false assertion that Senator Judd Gregg would be incapable of carrying out the Census in an objective manner is not only absurd, but also casts doubt on the genuineness of President Obama’s commitment to work in a bipartisan fashion.  I commend Senator Gregg on his decision to withdraw his nomination as Secretary of Commerce.  It is clear that Senator Gregg recognized this unfortunate attempt to inject politics where it doesn’t belong, and has instead opted to put the American people first.