Administration Ends Attempts to Add Citizenship to 2020 Census
On July 11, President Trump announced that he would no longer seek to add a question on citizenship to the 2020 Census. The announcement appears to resolve over a year of controversy and confusion, which culminated in a tumultuous two weeks that included a Supreme Court ruling stating the question could not be asked unless the Administration could provide a better explanation, an announcement that the Census Bureau had begun printing materials without a citizenship question, a commitment from the Department of Justice to continue fighting to add the question back in, and upheaval in the government’s legal team. Census stakeholders are hoping that the resolution of this issue can allow preparations for the Census to move forward smoothly and allow the community to focus on encouraging full participation in the 2020 Census. COSSA issued a statement praising the decision.
While the Administration will no longer seek to modify the 2020 questionnaire, President Trump signed an executive order that directs the Census Bureau to compile estimates of citizenship using existing data from administrative records. However, the order has little practical impact on the Census Bureau, as it already had access to the majority of the data in question and in fact originally proposed producing such estimates as a less costly and more accurate alternative to adding a citizenship question to the decennial census.
Congressional committees have shifted their focus from the citizenship question to ensuring an accurate count on the 2020 Census. The Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee hosted Census Director Steven Dillingham, along with representatives of the Government Accountability Office, last week and the House Oversight and Reform Committee will examine how to reach an accurate census count later this week.