It took only a year, but Congress finally found the tip. Now if it tries a little harder, it may actually find the iceberg.
But don't count on it.
These guys are steering the Titanic and they aren't going anywhere near that block of ice.
Republicans and Democrats on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform want you to know a couple of things — they found no evidence that anyone manipulated the employment data before the last presidential election and they saw no indication that there was widespread data falsification.
Those are allegations made in this column during the past year.
"This is a happy occasion because the situation is not as bad as we thought," committee Chairman Blake Farenthold (R-TX) gushed at a hearing here on Thursday. The lawmaker was clearly not prepared.
"This gives freedom of the press a bad name," said Rep. Stephen F. Lynch (D-MA) of the column that started all this last November. That was one of many knocks on The Post and me at the hearing, which lasted about as long as a lopsided first-round tennis match at the US Open.
There was plenty of bluster like that but no one brought up the 96-page report. I doubt Lynch or any of the Democrats on the committee even read it.
Here are other problems with the conclusions expressed at Thursday's hearing.
l First, the tone and content differs greatly from the conclusions of the report on the issue published Thursday by the same committee.
That report said there are "a number of flaws in the current quality assurance process for the Census Bureau data collection efforts nationwide." The report added, "It is imperative that the Census Bureau take swift corrective action to ensure data integrity."
The report also said it couldn't prove that economic data were being falsified in a widespread manner. But it also said it couldn't disprove it because the Commerce Department, which oversees Census, obstructed its investigation.
That's a whole lot different from not finding anything. In fact, it shows a desperation at Commerce that something might be found. Why else wouldn't it cooperate?
No one at the Oversight hearing even mentioned Julius Buckmon, who was caught falsifying data in the Philadelphia Census region and was eased out of his job. Buckmon alleged that supervisors told him to fill out bogus Census forms. A full investigation of Buckmon was done only after The Post brought him to their attention. And Buckmon wasn't invited to testify at the hearing.
Also not mentioned was the fact that more than 120 laptops were suddenly missing from the Philadelphia Census office right before the last presidential election. How do we know? The Post went through the trouble of getting e-mails from supervisors in that office.
And supervisors in that office, in those e-mails, seemed panicked that the computers were gone. They had no explanation for the loss.
Democratic Committee members and the two Census witnesses — John Thompson, the boss, and Inspector General Todd Zinser — made a point that it would take a widespread conspiracy beyond the possible to change the nation's jobless rate.
I hope they were playing politics with this issue because that statement is ludicrous. Buckmon alone falsified enough interviews each month to change the results, statistically speaking, for 50,000 households. Another one or two cheaters would have done the job.
The missing computers, in addition, could have been used to change untold numbers of people from being unemployed to employed.
And survey takers and supervisors in two other Census regions (so that's three out of six, including Philadelphia) have told me that data were being falsified in their areas as well. Several of these other Census employees offered to talk with investigators but their calls were never returned.
Census has already made a number of changes to its collection process because of the investigation I caused. For instance, supervisors can no longer check their own underling's work. The work now has to be verified by independent supervisors.
That change gives free press, including The Post, a good name.
Perhaps the poor showing by Farenthold and his committee isn' the last word.
A source told me in confidence that the House isn't close to being finished with this matter.
That is good. What happened at the hearing on Thursday did nothing but further sully Congress's reputation.
If that's even possible.
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