Trump Nominee Gets Top Census Bureau Post

In Washington, the Senate has voted for President Trump's candidate Steven Dillingham to fill the position of Director of the US Census Bureau.

Former Census Bureau Director John Thompson, who was appointed by President Obama in 2013, resigned in May last year after his fixed five-year term came to an end. In December, an industry group including The Insights Association, AAPOR, the American Statistical Association and Nielsen urged the Senate to confirm Dillingham's appointment to the role, which had been announced by the White House last July. Dillingham most recently served as Director of the Office of Strategic Information, Research and Planning for the US Peace Corps, before which he led the Bureau of Justice Statistics and the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

Last June, The Insights Association urged the Trump administration and Congress to delay plans to consolidate three federal statistical agencies until after the 2020 Census, stating that any reorganization could disrupt ongoing statistical programs and the impact on the 2020 Census would be the most severe. Then two months later, the Insights Association added its voice to concerns that the introduction of a citizenship question to the 2020 Census, without appropriate testing, will deter responses from immigrants, both legal and illegal. When asked if he supports including the citizenship question on the census, Dillingham has thus far declined to give his opinion.

Web site: www.census.gov .