House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) pushed back against the Trump administration regarding the U.S. Census, saying it is an attempt to rush the U.S. Census count despite warnings from experts.
In a letter addressed to Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross and Director of the U.S. Census Bureau Steven Dillingham, Pelosi and Schumer expressed concern about Census Bureau’s decision to move up the end date for Census field operations.
Back in April, the Commerce Department and Census Bureau announced plans to extend in part Census field operations until October 31, 2020, due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Now, that date has been revised again with operations set to conclude on September 30, 2020, so apportionment data can be made available by December 31, 2020.
According to top-ranking Democratic lawmakers, the new deadline, which they describe as a “highly compressed schedule” appears to be inspired by political motivations. They also expressed concern about the possibility of the change threatening the accuracy of the Census.
“We have since learned that an internal Census Bureau presentation dated the same day — and not provided to Congress by the administration — outlined the risks of the ‘[h]ighly compressed schedule’ and warned that data products ‘will be negatively impacted under this revised plan.'”
While White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows has ensured a “99 percent accurate count” by September 30th, Pelosi and Schumer are not convinced the goal is feasible.
“When we raised our concerns about these actions to Administration negotiators on August 3rd and cited the expert consensus that condensing the Census schedule would result in an inaccurate count, Mr. Meadows claimed that he could ensure a ’99 percent accurate count’ by September 30th,” the letter reads.
The Democratic lawmakers also insisted Meadows provided no definitive plan to explain how the task would be carried out.
“Mr. Meadows provided no evidence as to how this would be achieved, but simply asserted that the staff he consulted at the Census Bureau told him they could,” the letter read.
It continued, “When asked if he consulted Director Dillingham directly about plans to move back the dates for which field operations and data processing would end, Mr. Meadows said he had not.”
Later in the letter, Pelosi and Schumer wrote:
“It appears that Mr. Meadows may have made the previously unspoken intentions of President and his Administration clear: the White House was intervening to ensure President Trump would control the apportionment process while in office rather than ensuring an accurate count for the American people as required by the Constitution.”
See part of the letter below:
In related news, I see that Schumer and Pelosi just wrote to Commerce Sec Wilbur Ross and Census Bureau director Steven Dillingham ripping their plan to end the census count early.
They want documents explaining their decision-making process. pic.twitter.com/JCIJ8RwkL2
— Jennifer Bendery (@jbendery) September 4, 2020
The two Democratic lawmakers are requesting the administration to provide information about the reversal changes by September 17.