Tom Latham: “I guess being in the soybean business, we do count a few beans there. But I think we have to look at what this debate…”

“I guess being in the soybean business, we do count a few beans there. But I think we have to look at what this debate really is all about. We are talking about the census, but really what it gets down to is money and power. It really gets down to the debate of whether we want those things distributed in a fair and honest manner or if we want someone possibly with political motivation to guess at where those things go. No. 1, with the money, as everyone here knows, and I do not know if the folks at home know that where the Federal dollars are distributed is based on the count, would we rather have an actual real count to know that we are getting our share of Federal dollars or would we like a bureaucrat here in Washington to guess at it? As far as power, it has to do with how many Representatives we have from our States. If our State is kind of on the bubble here as to whether we are going to lose a seat or gain a seat, do we want that determined by an actual real count or do we want a bureaucrat here in Washington to make that determination for us and mute our voices? It is simply wrong to go that route. I do not necessarily say that there is going to be politics involved in this census or this guessing that we are proposing do here, but let us look at the record. Has this administration politicized any other departments in government? Look at the FBI. There are 900 files of private citizens for political reasons in the White House today.”