Congressional Democrats are protesting a call from Census Bureau Director Steven Dillingham to finish gathering in-person data by the end of September, a month earlier than had been scheduled, saying they feel the move will skew the final numbers by leaving several Americans uncounted and accusing President Donald Trump of working against the 2020 count.
“This president has been trying to undermine the Census since before it began,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said Tuesday, reports The Washington Times. "In seeking intentionally to undercount the poor, minorities, and immigrant communities, he is hoping to skew the upcoming redistricting process and transfer funding and resources away from communities that need it most.”
Late Monday, Dillingham said the shortened schedule was necessary to meet the year-end deadline for a final national count, with the numbers to be used to apportion House seats in the states.
New hirings, along with bonuses offered to workers going door-to-door to count people who didn't respond to Census Bureau mailings should help the new timeline work, he added.
Hoyer said the House will launch an investigation, and Oversight Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., said she has asked Dillingham to allow her to interview top agency officials.
The coronavirus pandemic stopped the amount of in-person canvassing this spring, and only about 63% of the nation's households have responded to the census, leaving nearly two in five households to require an in-person visit. Democrats, however, are saying that it is impossible for the count to be finished by the end of the year, as the law requires, and say a delay would be better than a wrong count.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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