José E. Serrano: “I come to the debate equipped with two reference sources, the first being Webster's Collegiate Dictionary. "Emergency…”

“I come to the debate equipped with two reference sources, the first being Webster's Collegiate Dictionary. "Emergency: an unforeseen combination of circumstances or the resulting state that calls for immediate action." Now, it is plausible to believe that we cannot anticipate everything in the budget and that emergencies do happen beyond our control, and we should figure out a way of dealing with them. The question is, is the census, is the dicentennial enumeration of the people of the United States an unanticipated emergency that could not be foreseen? Well, Thomas Jefferson 210 years ago could have told Congress that in the year 2000 they were going to need money for the census because it was required that it be done every 10 years as long as the Nation should stand, and the Nation still stands. So this is by no means an emergency in terms of unanticipated budget needs.”