I do wish the article had mentioned some of the details of the dispute, and not just the vague "disagreement over the census". I'd like to hear more about that, no matter who ends up being in charge of it.

The administration bowed to pressure from interest groups, and planned to pull the Census out of the Commerce Dept., because they felt Gregg would not allow the proposed statistical sampling, and would instead follow the actual legal requirements.

Does the President have the authority to shift one of the main functions of a department? If the senate has the authority to confirm or deny heads of the departments, do they really have no say about something like this?

This statistical sampling... how the heck does this work? I haven't seen anything on it that doesn't sound like they'll be allowing interest groups to boost their numbers by claiming large percentages of people who won't or can't answer the census. Isn't that a bit like the old scam of claiming non-existant children (prior to require SSN for dependents) to reduce the amount of taxes owed?