Talk Radio News Service: News, Politics, Media

By Leah Valencia, University of New Mexico- Talk Radio News Service

House Democrats teamed up with the Tri-Caucus Thursday to speak against a measure that would require U.S. Census forms to include a question inquiring if the subject is a U.S. citizen.

The Tri-Caucus, which is comprised of the Congressional Asian Pacific Caucus, Congressional Hispanic Caucus and the Congressional Black Caucus, joined with House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, claimed the question would hinder the accuracy of the census.

“It would lead to an inaccurate count...what officials need to know is how many people live and where do they live... and they make critical decisions based upon that,” Hoyer said. “We need an accurate account to distribute federal money fairly, and to ensure none of our communities get short changed.”

The amendment was proposed by Senators David Vitter (R-L.) and Bob Bennett (R-Utah) to a Commerce, Justice and Science appropriations bill. The amendment would freeze Census Bureau funds if the census does not include the citizenship question on more than 425 million forms before the count begins in April.

“We expect for the Senators to vote down this amendment, particularly our Democratic Senators,” Chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Rep.Nydia Velázquez (D-N.Y.) said. “This is insane, there is no other way to describe it.”

The Representatives also argued that with the date of the census only 160 days away, any changes would be especially costly. Currently 425 million of the questionnaires have already been printed.