2010 Census Mission, Issues and Politics
The U.S. Census Began in 1790, But it's Still A Work in Progress
It took more than a year and a half to finalize the 2000 census count and if some people have their way it may take even longer to complete the 2010 census on April 1. A 2012 finish is a possibility, meaning membership the U. S. House of Representatives and the distribution of millions of dollars in federal benefits could remain a controversy for months.
(Editor's note: The Senate killed the VitterBennett amendment on a 60-39 procedural vote Nvember 5)
What started as a simple count of American residents to determine membership in the House has turned into a complex process that is more costly and controversial every 10 years. In 1790 the crucial decision was whether to count blacks. They counted some, categorizing them as either slaves or “other free persons.”
Utah’s Mormon Missionaries Uncounted
By 2000, the controversy was over the counting of American missionaries working outside the country, particularly Mormon missionaries from Utah. If Utah’s 11,176 missionaries (more than any other state) were counted, the state would have qualified for a fourth House representative. But the U.S. Supreme court ruled against Utah in November 2001.
The biggest 2010 census controversy revolves around citizenship, or lack of a citizenship question in the census form. In 2009, Republican. Senators Bob Bennett of Utah and David Vitter of Louisiana introduced an amendment to require the Census Bureau to ask residents if they are citizens.
Encourage Immigrants to Avoid Census
The citizenship question had the potential to:
- prompt many illegal immigrants to avoid the census in fear of deportation
- lay groundwork for restricting the state-by-state population counts to citizens
- re-allocate seats in the House of Representatives
- impact the dispersal of billions in federal benefits
- delay completion of the census for months or years
It could also raise the cost of the census, probably by millions of dollars, by forcing the Census Bureau to reprint questionnaires and adjust its procedures and training for a million or so census workers. The cost for the 2000 census was estimated at $4.5 billion, more than $15 for each person counted.
Membership in the House is currently limited to 435. Each state’s membership is determined by its share of the population. The 14th Amendment to the Constitution says membership "shall be apportioned among the several states according to their respective numbers,counting the whole number of persons in each state, excluding Indians not taxed."
Vitter-Bennett Amendment
Like Utah’s 2000 suit, the Vitter-Bennett amendment is packed with legal and constitutional questions. Utah argued that missionaries should be counted just as the bureau counted federal (military and civilian) employees working abroad.
The 2000 Utah effort would have increased the population count, but the Vitter-Bennett amendment would likely decrease it because even rumors of a citizenship question could encourage thousands of immigrants to avoid the census.
According to Andrew Beveridge, a sociologist at Queens College, such a change would benefit. Iowa, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Montana, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania and South Carolina. It would hurt California, Illinois, New York and Texas because they have the most non-citizen immigrants.
The Vitter-Bennett amendment would also drag the volatile immigration issue into the census process, which already faces some privacy issues.
Bachmann Raises Privacy Issue
U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, for instance, has said she and her family will provide the census with only the number of people in their household because "the Constitution doesn't require any information beyond that."
Since the Vitter-Bennett amendment was given little chance to pass, the 2010 census was expected to proceed on its April 1 schedule, but the percentage of citizen participation will be difficult to estimate.
Reference:
"Rep. Bachmann Refuses To Fill Out 2010 Census," CBS News.com, 6.18.09
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