Pence: Remove Gregg or give him Census

House Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence (Ind.) said Thursday that President Obama should pull his nomination of GOP Sen. Judd Gregg (N.H.) as Commerce secretary or give Gregg oversight of the Census Bureau.

Obama nominated Gregg to run the Commerce Department last week, but quickly announced the White House would oversee the Census Bureau, which is under Commerce. The bureau is responsible for collecting data that helps distribute congressional seats to states, among other functions.

{mosads}”If President Obama doesn’t trust Sen. Judd Gregg to oversee a fair and accurate census, he should withdraw the nomination,” Pence told reporters gathered at a press conference Thursday morning.

Pence’s comments come as House Republicans ratchet up their complaints over Obama’s plan to place Census under the White House. Obama made that move to appease lawmakers, including members of the Congressional Black Caucus, who did not want a conservative Republican in charge of the Census Bureau just as it is doing work that could lead to shifts in congressional seats.

In a letter to Obama on Thursday, Rep. Darrell Issa (Calif.), ranking Republican on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said the move “would result in the unprecedented politicization of the Census.”

Issa, Pence, Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) and other House GOPers charged Thursday that the Census Bureau would be in the control of “political operatives” such as White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, a former Democratic lawmaker who once headed the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

The White House has pledged that the Census Bureau’s work will be run without political interference.

“The president recognizes the importance of ensuring that the Census Bureau conducts a complete and accurate count through a process that is free from politicization, and he looks forward to working with members of Congress on both sides of the aisle and Secretary-designate [Judd] Gregg to achieve that goal,” a statement released by the White House said last week.