Steny Hoyer: “Sampling will clearly be one of the most important issues that we confront in the next session of Congress that is being…”

“Sampling will clearly be one of the most important issues that we confront in the next session of Congress that is being addressed in this bill. I am going to support this bill, and I, too, congratulate the chairman and the ranking member for accomplishing a very difficult task. I rise briefly, however, to call the attention to what the Speaker of the House said just a few years ago. I want to read it: I respectfully request that the census numbers for the State of Georgia be readjusted, that is after counting, I tell my friend, from door to door, to reflect the accurate population of the State so as to include the over 300,000 which were previously not included. That is in the door-to-door count, according to the Speaker. Based on available information, without an adjustment to compensate for the undercount, minorities in Georgia could lose two State Senate seats and four to five House seats. As a result of conversations with black legislators, it is my understanding that they have not only concurred with this request, but stated that they believe it is required under the Voting Rights Act. Representative Newt Gingrich sent that to Bob Mosbacher, then Secretary of Commerce, with respect to sampling. We are not going to argue situational ethics, I hope. If sampling was good then in this letter from Speaker Newt Gingrich in 1991 to Secretary Mosbacher, it is good today.”