The White House is NOT “taking over the census.”

Census plan gets counted out.

The Obama administration has scrapped plans to have the Census Bureau director report directly to the White House, assuaging the concerns of lawmakers.

Commerce Secretary nominee Gary Locke met with key senators Wednesday to reassure them that the 2010 census would be managed by the Commerce Department, and not the White House.

Locke met with Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) and ranking member Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) to defuse concerns that had arisen over stewardship of the census.
Locke provided two key assurances, according to aides: that the census would stay out of the White House’s hands, and that so-called sampling will be used minimally, as an accuracy check.

A Commerce Department source confirmed Locke’s message to Capitol Hill.