Jeff Miller: “Yesterday the Los Angeles Times ran a story about a census in California. But the story had nothing to do with the…”

“Yesterday the Los Angeles Times ran a story about a census in California. But the story had nothing to do with the Census 2000 dress rehearsal going on now in Sacramento. It concerned a census conducted by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works, a census that counts bats. That is right, bats. On May 17, a team of biologists and a couple of dozen volunteers will try to count every bat living underneath three wooden bridges in Topanga Canyon in California. Let me quote from the article: Census takers, who range in age from 7 to 70, will each be assigned a section of a bridge. With a Tally Wacker in hand, a clicker used to count quickly with the thumb, they will attempt to count the bats as they emerge from their roosts at dusk. Participants will "have to be in place, sitting very quietly before dusk, so they don't disturb the bats," says biologist Rosi Dagit. Dagit says bats are very sensitive to noise and won't fly if they suspect they are being watched by humans. The article concludes: "Census takers will have to be fast." Mr. Speaker, as chairman of the Subcommittee on the Census, I am tempted here to start making jokes about the batty census the Clinton Administration wants to conduct in the year 2000 using statistical sampling, but I will refrain.”