The Senate yesterday afternoon confirmed Robert Groves as the next director of the Census Bureau.
The confirmation comes at a critical time for the Commerce Department bureau, which is about to undertake its once-a-decade tally of the U.S. population.
Groves has the skills to tackle this challenge, top senators say. From 1990-1992, he was associate director for statistical design, standards and methodology at the Census Bureau. For the last eight years, he has directed the University of Michigan Survey Research Center.
“Dr. Groves is a brilliant social scientist, he has impeccable credentials and the administration would have had a hard time appointing a better-qualified candidate to lead the Census Bureau,” said Joe Lieberman, Ind.-Conn., who chairs the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.