Political Quotes

“I rise in opposition. The census is one of the oldest civic functions of our Nation. Article I of the U.S. Constitution requires enumeration of the population every 10 years. The census is the largest peacetime mobilization of our government personnel. The American Community Survey is designed to replace the long-form portion for future decennial censuses, therefore leaving only the short-form portion. Many Americans found that filling out the long-form survey to be burdensome, and many said this contributed to the declining response rate of the long form, therefore costing the American taxpayer more money to have census takers returning to the nonresponding households. The Committee on Government Reform and the Committee on Appropriations have worked to ensure that the Census Bureau has the necessary funding to carry out its mission and to ensure that for 2010 there will only be a short form census. The question of constitutionality of the American Community Survey is not new. On April 4, 2002, the General Accounting Office responded to the vice-chairman of the Committee on Government Reform's request for an opinion. The GAO stated, 'Census clearly has authority to conduct the ACS.' There is sufficient legal authority. If we do not fund the ACS, we will ensure we have a two-form census in 2010, which will cost an additional $4 million for the taxpayer.”