Sean Patrick Maloney: “Participation in the census may also be harmed by the political grandstanding it continues to inspire. Presidential…”

“Participation in the census may also be harmed by the political grandstanding it continues to inspire. Presidential candidate George W. Bush has criticized the long census sent to one in six American households as some sort of government intrusion on privacy. However, the Census Bureau takes very seriously its responsibility to keep individual responses absolutely confidential. Leakers inside will be sought out and prosecuted. And hackers on the outside have not been able to get in. If they were caught, they would be prosecuted. In fact, the Bureau is working with leading computer security experts to make sure its data remains untapped. Mr. Speaker, I include the entire article for the Record: [From the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Apr. 3, 2000] Constitution: Keep the Census From Becoming Political Fodder and Participate Roughly half of America's households did their civic duty and answered the U.S. Census Bureau's Year 2000 postal survey by its April 1 deadline. That level of participation is not nearly good enough if America is to get the accurate picture of itself essential to governing fairly and efficiently at local, state and federal levels. Fortunately, the bureau still has a 'final, final deadline' for mail and e-mail replies. It's April 11, the day it will send out its enumerators to count Americans who didn't respond.”