The New Republic

Yesterday morning, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and Census Bureau Director Bob Groves stepped up to press conference mikes to announce that the Census Bureau is giving back $1.6 billion of its $7.6 billion budget for Fiscal Year 2010. Half of this 22 percent savings comes from unused contingency funds, set aside in case of natural disaster or operational breakdown. The other half is due to a higher-than-anticipated rate of households participating in the census and a census workforce that was more efficient than expected. READ MORE >>

Yesterday, we welcomed the arrival of a clusters-based regional innovation program in H.R. 5116, the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act. This development is great news--America’s signal piece of innovation legislation has now been made to recognize the essential role of regional networks in maximizing U.S. competitiveness. READ MORE >>

In Washington, it’s the season for many things—spring flowers, baseball, political speech (always in season), and House and Senate appropriations subcommittees delving into the minutiae of the president’s proposed $3.7 trillion budget for FY2011. READ MORE >>

Last week, President Obama signed the 2010 Consolidated Appropriations Act, an amalgam of six separate appropriations bills providing $447 billion to an array of federal departments. A small fraction of this funding is devoted to supporting federal statistical agencies that generate the demographic, economic, and social data that will help metros better understand themselves. READ MORE >>

READ MORE >>

READ MORE >>

Yesterday, in a straight party-line vote, the Senate voted 60-39 to approve cloture on H.R. 2847, the Commerce-Justice-Science appropriations bill. This action effectively blocks consideration of Sens. David Vitter (R-La.) and Robert Bennett’s (R-Utah) controversial amendment to bar implementation of the 2010 Census unless it collected data on citizenship and immigration status for each respondent. READ MORE >>