Thomas Daschle: “Today Senator Lieberman and I, along with a group of our colleagues, are introducing a resolution emphasizing to all…”

“Today Senator Lieberman and I, along with a group of our colleagues, are introducing a resolution emphasizing to all Americans the importance of accurately and completely filling out their census forms. It is my hope that all members of the Senate will cosponsor this important resolution to support the Census Bureau as it carries out the role that the Constitution and Congress have directed it to take. I continue to be concerned with the statements of some elected officials urging Americans not to respond to some of the questions on their census forms. These statements are reckless and irresponsible. First, every question on the census form is required by the Constitution or by law. All of these questions were reviewed by Congress before the census began, and received virtually no comment at that time. Second, an accurate census is absolutely critical to meet the needs of the public. Local, state and federal aid programs all depend upon an accurate census count to properly distribute funding for roads, schools and health care. Disaster response agencies like the Federal Emergency Management Agency use census data to prepare for and respond to hurricanes, tornadoes and other natural disasters. Finally, accurate information about population is absolutely essential to fairly distribute congressional seats to ensure that all Americans have equal representation in Congress.”