Jeff Miller: “I rise tonight at a critical moment for the 2000 decennial census. Today the President nominated Dr. Ken Prewitt for…”

“I rise tonight at a critical moment for the 2000 decennial census. Today the President nominated Dr. Ken Prewitt for director of the Census Bureau. As everyone involved with the 2000 Census knows, the operation is at a high risk for failure. The Government Accounting Office has warned we are headed towards failure, and the Commerce Department's own Inspector General has warned we are headed towards failure. When I became chairman of the new Subcommittee on the Census, I made a controversial statement. I said I did not have any litmus test for the new census director. I said what we needed was a competent manager who was committed to working cooperatively with Congress. Unfortunately, I think the President had a litmus test. Dr. Prewitt's background does not have anything to suggest he can lead a huge organization at a time of crisis. He has admitted that he has never run anything of the magnitude of the Census Bureau. Basically, for a short time he ran a think tank, and that is it. The decennial census is the largest peacetime mobilization in American history. The Census Bureau needs a General Schwarzkopf, not a professor Sherman Klunk, to save the census. So why would the President nominate an academic? Because of politics. Dr. Prewitt supports the President's sampling scheme, so he received the nomination. Basically, while I had no litmus test, the President certainly did. In recent weeks I have noticed an increasing politicizing of the 2000 census.”