Over 30 Senate, House Democrats Press Trump Administration to Explain How Late Addition of Census Citizenship Question Will Comply with Federal Law
Lawmakers demand answers from Administrator Rao, Secretary Ross following rushed decision to add untested citizenship question to the 2020 Census
Today, U.S. Senator Tom Carper (D-Del.), Senator Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) and Representative Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.), along with over 30 House and Senate Democrats, called on the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Administrator Neomi Rao and Department of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to explain how the Trump Administration plans to comply with federal law following its hasty decision to include a question on citizenship to the upcoming 2020 Decennial Census.
Federal agencies seeking to collect information from the public must comply with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA). The law requires agencies to evaluate the need to collect information and the potential burden that collecting particular information will place on the public.
The lawmakers wrote, “The PRA requires the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to review proposed information collections and ensure that agencies are minimizing the burden on the public. It requires OMB to ensure that the information collection maximizes practical utility and public benefit and — critical in the case of the 2020 Census — protects the integrity, objectivity, impartiality, utility and confidentiality of collected statistical information.”
The PRA also provides two opportunities for members of the public to review and comment on proposed information collections. However, the Trump Administration has yet to initiate the first public comment period and has not committed to make comments it receives available to the public.
In order to evaluate the Trump Administration’s adherence to the PRA, lawmakers asked Administrator Rao and Secretary Ross if the citizenship question was properly tested prior to the March 26, 2018 announcement, and, if not, how it intends to ensure its accuracy without testing; when the first public comment period will be opened for the public to express any concerns they may have; and what mechanisms will be utilized to ensure adding such a question will not tarnish the integrity of the 2020 Decennial Census.
Joining Senators Carper and Harris and Representative Cummings are over 30 Democratic Members of Congress: Senators Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Angus King (I-Maine), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Jack Reed, (D-R.I.) Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Tom Udall (D-N.M.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and U.S. Representatives Wm. Lacy Clay (D-Mo.), Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.), Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.) and Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-District of Columbia).
The full text of the letter to Administrator Rao and Secretary Ross can be found below and in PDF form here.
