Should Congress increase its oversight of the Decennial Census and the Bureau of the Census?
This bill would grant more oversight to Congress over the 2030 Census and the Bureau of the Census in general. Under the new legislation, the Director of the Bureau cannot be fired without cause (neglect of duty, inefficiency, etc.). The bill mandates that a Census question cannot be added without submitting it to Congress. The bill also requires a report from the Bureau about all research, testing, and operations associated with the Decennial Census.
Sponsor: Representative Carolyn B. Maloney (Democrat, New York, District 12)
View full bill text ➔
How do you feel?
Oppose
Support
Opponents say
• "President Trump took a very important step to ensure the sanctity of our nation's elections and equal representation under our constitution. The President directed the Secretary of Commerce to report an apportionment count for the House of Representatives which excludes non-legal residents in the United States, including illegal immigrants. All Americans should care about who is being included in the apportionment count. Including illegal immigrants in the count for representation in congress only dilutes the representation for all Americans who vote in elections and makes a mockery of our basic principle of one person, one vote. The President's action restores the concept of representational government envisioned by the Constitution. In a country so closely divided as the United States, illegal immigrants and non-citizens have a material effect on representation. Representation should matter to everyone, it's a simple question of fairness." Source: Rep. James Comer (Republican, Kentucky, District 1)
Proponents say
• "The census is a foundation of American democracy, and it must be protected from partisan interference. The American people saw firsthand how the Trump Administration tried to weaponize the Census Bureau to tip the scales in favor of one political party. From the illegal effort to add a citizenship question to the unconstitutional attempt to exclude millions of immigrants from the apportionment count, it is clear that we need stronger laws to protect the census from political meddling. The Ensuring a Fair and Accurate Census Act is a commonsense bill to safeguard the integrity and independence of the Census Bureau." Source: Rep. Carolyn Maloney (Democrat, New York, District 12)
• "The next census is in 2030, but — given the scale of the undertaking and importance of the results — Congress should work quickly to insulate it from political interference. A bill recently introduced by Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.), chairwoman of the House Oversight Committee, would do just that. The Ensuring a Fair and Accurate Census Act would restrict the number of political appointees at the Census Bureau, bar the removal of a bureau director without just cause and require new questions to be submitted to Congress ahead of time. It would also mandate new questions be ‘researched, tested and certified’ by the commerce secretary and ‘evaluated by the Government Accountability Office.’" Source: The Washington Post Editorial Board
