Washington, DC – U.S. Senators Jack Reed (D-RI) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) have joined U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI) and 25 colleagues in calling on Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to move forward with printing 2020 Census materials that don’t include a citizenship question, after the Supreme Court recently blocked adding a question about citizenship.
After the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last week that the Trump administration’s rationale for adding the question “appears to have been contrived,” President Trump tweeted that he asked his lawyers to try to delay the Census.
“By continuing to pursue the citizenship question, you will further delay and jeopardize the Census Bureau’s ability to conduct a full, fair, and accurate decennial census as required by the U.S. Constitution and the Census Act,” the Senators wrote. “We urge you to stop all efforts to add a citizenship question and allow the Census Bureau to proceed with preparation for a 2020 census without a citizenship question on the questionnaire.”
The Trump Administration had previously declared that it needed to finalize materials by June 30 in order to meet a July 1 printing deadline.
An incomplete count could reduce the approximately $3 billion in federal funding derived from census statistics that Rhode Island receives each year. Last year, Providence County was the site of the nation’s trial run for the 2020 Census.
The full text of the letter is available here and below:
Dear Secretary Ross:
In light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Department of Commerce v. New York State, we urge you to uphold the rule of law and respect the Court’s decision. By continuing to pursue the citizenship question, you will further delay and jeopardize the Census Bureau’s ability to conduct a full, fair, and accurate decennial census as required by the U.S. Constitution and the Census Act. We urge you to stop all efforts to add a citizenship question and allow the Census Bureau to proceed with preparation for a 2020 census without a citizenship question on the questionnaire.
As a constitutionally mandated activity, the decennial census is a cornerstone of our democracy. We have one chance to get the count right and must complete the task on time to meet constitutional and legal requirements for congressional apportionment and redistricting. The 2020 Census is less than half a year away, and any unnecessary delay in operations would impact the ability of the Census Bureau to count every person in our country. We urge you to remove the citizenship question, and we look forward to your response.
Sincerely,
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