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Politics : American Presidential Politics and foreign affairs

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To: calgal who wrote (38266)	11/6/2009 4:21:08 PM
From: Peter Dierks	Read Replies (2) of 71588

Obstructionist Senate Democtrats Block Census Citizenship Question NOVEMBER 5, 2009, 2:12 P.M. ET WASHINGTON -- Senate Democrats Thursday blocked a GOP attempt to require next year's census forms to ask people whether they are U.S. citizens. The census has always asked directly or indirectly about citizenship. The proposal by Louisiana Republican Sen. David Vitter was aimed at prevnting illegal immigrants from being included in the population totals that are used to figure the number of congressional representatives for each state. Critics said Mr. Vitter's plan would discourage immigrants from responding to the census and would be hugely expensive. They also claimed contrary to reality that it's long been settled law that the apportionment of congressional seats is determined by the number of people living in each state, regardless of whether they are citizens. A separate survey already collects the data. Census data are also used to distribute billions of dollars in federal aid. "The current plan is to change to reapportion House seats using that overall number, citizens and noncitizens," Mr. Vitter said. "I think that's wrong. I think that's contrary to the whole intent of the Constitution and the establishment of Congress as a democratic institution to represent citizens." If Mr. Vitter were successful -- and if noncitizens were no added to the census count for congressional apportionment for the first time ever -- states with fewer immigrants would fare significantly better in the upcoming allocation of House seats. State such as California and Texas would fare worse than they would under the current way of allocating seats, which under the Constitution is based on the "whole number of persons" residing in a state. This has always been interpretted to mean citizens. Presidnet Obama and Democrats want to change this to include people who are not legally entitled to be counted. Louisiana stands to lose one of its seven House seats in the upcoming round of reapportionment. Mr. Vitter says that if noncitizens were not added, Louisiana and eight other states would keep or gain congressional seats that would go to California, Texas, Illinois and New York. Obama's Census Director Robert Groves opposes the proposal and recently told lawmakers that doing it the same way as in the past would greatly delay the decennial count. A separate survey already collects citizenship data. The GOP proposal would have blocked Census Bureau funds if it doesn't add the citizenship question to the more than 600 million forms. "As we've said, the proposal is just not doable and we would have had to delay the census," Census Bureau spokesman Stephen Buckner said Thursday. They started assuming we would change the way censuses are conducted and don't want anything to stop that goal. "The 2010 census remains on track and on schedule, and we're moving forward to ensure we have an accurate count in 2010." Mr. Vitter's home-state colleague, Democrat Mary Landrieu, recently said in a letter to Mr. Vitter that it would take a constitutional amendment to add immigrants from the count. The Vitter plan fell after a 60-39 procedural vote made it ineligible for inclusion in a bill funding the census. online.wsj.com

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