Sean Patrick Maloney: “Mr. Speaker, it was not long after the Republicans took over Congress that they reached the conclusion that they did not…”

“Mr. Speaker, it was not long after the Republicans took over Congress that they reached the conclusion that they did not like the use of modern scientific methods in the counting on the census. I am not sure how they reached that decision, having abolished the committee and subcommittee with jurisdiction over the census. I am fairly certain that that conclusion did not come through oversight. In fact, they gave jurisdiction over the census to the Subcommittee on National Security, International Affairs, and Criminal Justice of the Committee on Government Reform, where it languished. The full committee did hold a couple of hearings on the census, but they were halfhearted events. There certainly is no record to support their conclusions. In fact, the only report issued by the Committee on Government Reform stated that sampling and the use of scientific counting methods was unscientific, a conclusion they were later forced to repudiate. Given the lack of evidence to support their position, one might question their motives. However, there is no need to do that. We only have to look at their tactics to understand where they are coming from.”