Today i want to think the witnesses for their ongoing cooperation. You and your staff have been excellent partners in this oversight and doctor, i want to thank you for your work preparing for the census. I learned from my district staff earlier this month that you toured langley park in maryland. These are diverse high density area with a high concentration of immigrants and i appreciate you coming out in my district director met with your staff and was encouraged by the preparation so i want to thank you and your staff for your hard work. That is ongoing and we have a lot to accomplish and we spent a lot of the last year embattled in the Citizenship Question now that the administration has been forced to stand down the bureau must devote all available resources to repairing the damage of this effort in getting us back on track and completing an accurate account in 2020. The move to pose the question has been rejected by the courts is arbitrary and i fear it could be and they do not receive their fair share of Government Resources and everything from medicaid and headstart. The consequences reverberate for decade. Shows the distrust of the government imperils a good count of communities of color, 41 of Asian Americans and 32 of hispanics are concerned about this since is being used against them and 39 you are not the most efficient and 34 of those born outside the United States are afraid to respond. There is a lot of fear in our community we have to strive to overcome. The Citizenship Question and the threatened raise all strike fear in the hearts of many of the communities that are already mistrustful even though the question there there is a test where 240,000 families are being asked the question, why is that . This decision to pose this question seems hard to reconcile with the reality of the Supreme Court decision and the unbroken defeat of the question. Now we face the threat of prolonged confusion. The bureau must outline steps to increase outreach to the communities and specifically the bureau must reassure everyone of the confidentiality and reaffirmed their commitment that it will not be used for Law Enforcement and must clarify the act of the executive order on the confidentiality and must identify specific actions it will take to differentiate itself from Law Enforcement. Think the bureau should increase outreach to certain communities. Earlier they told congress they plan to carry over money instead of spending this year. I fail to see a compelling reason for the delay. Lifelong Partnership Specialists and it is two months behind we cant afford this delay. Stoppers will be knocking on doors and it shouldnt be bureau been using the leftover funds or existing funds to clear this backlog. House appropriations report ordered to improve the communication strategy and open Questionnaire Centers to reach communities missed and it would provide reliable locations where people could get faceto face assistance. I wasnt the bureau using carryover funds. It has been underfunded and refusing to spend it outreach should be fully funded. The bureau should improve processes for tracking and implementing security implementations to safeguard data. I am alarmed to hear the Inspector General found the it systems contain fundamental security to efficiencies indicating the bureau is behind schedule for 2020. They are behind on vulnerability and no schedule for implementing recommendations. The girl is home to one of the largest databases and recommendations to get back on track and hearing the plan for that today and now i happily yield to the Ranking Member of the committee. Stuck i think you and think you for calling this hearing. This is not the first hearing we have sat on the census. It is something that we have had under this administration and the Previous Administration where we had time wisely been working on i do want to offer, this is his ninth hearing as we look at this. This is of critical importance. My fear had been and continues to be are we going to do those Cyber Security issues to make sure that we can count on not only in the prophecy, but the integrity of the system. I will also offer a little bit of a counter area we have spent way too much time on Citizenship Question. Is time we get serious about implementing this and any direction that we continue to maintain as it relates to the question is problematic. I know there is a strong outreach to what i would say more rural the funds that are out there i happen to agree we need to roll those into next year because i dont know about any of you, but if there is of a most americans are thinking about today if there is a top 20 list the census does not make the top 20 list. It will make it starting in march and april of next year, we will start to see that outreach seems to really be dedicated, but we need to have systems in place so i would say identifying those making sure they are there, making sure that the way we collect the data, i know this is going to be a groundbreaking way, we tried that in 2010 and that didnt work. The last thing we want is to have egg on her face when it comes to counting every individual. It is imperative that we count everybody and we do that so we can allocate the resources the six 50 billion that we do it in a fair and accurate way. I have a longer written statement we have staff that is paying attention. We appreciate that and your thoughtful remark we will release you to the uncertain fortunes of the article to branch. Think you for coming. Please write if you would and raise your right hand and the testimony youre about to give is the truth altered so you got. This is an important time the clock is ticking and we are increasingly ready and we thank you for your support. Regarding the executive order we are reviewing. We will share updates, preparations continue unabated and exit duchenne is near. Will begin in remote alaska in less than six months. The nationwide account commences in nine months. It is my opinion months. With the professionals that we have an outstanding plan built upon best practices and important innovation. We have teams in place. The teams are entering a High Performance phase and safety and accountability are progressing. We are on boarding tens of thousands of addressed blisters and we appreciate helping them. The welldesigned it system and integrated operation are working. We test for functionality, scalability and Cyber Security. Data is encrypted and we are working closely with government and industry expert. Oversight, accountability and support our value. We appreciate the work of the Government Accountability office of Inspector General and we agree the census is high risk given the scope. We have an integrated Research BasedOutreach Campaign that messages for diverse community. I often repeat the message the 2020 census is easy, safe and important. A member of the congressional is on a caucus recommended i reverse that is important, it is important increases daily. Phone support education, Transportation Health and Human Services and it is used by governments, businesses and families. Congress passed laws in violation. Was take a lifetime to protect our data. The bureau sets the highest standard and maintains a culture and practice of protecting data. Is not shared with anyone or any agency. It is easy, this is due to improvement and technology. The fringe joins research and is having no love. Yes his friend are you sure you lost that you and the friend said no i dropped it down the block your because the light is better. We can no longer rely on collecting data in the usual way with internet and phone options to go into the less visible hard to count areas and collect the data. In new york city mobile devices can count in the Street Market among the students in Queens College and in detroitin maryland you can deploy the tools and Community Centers in baltimore i met partners with great ideas and initiative. On the light side with the opening of the aquarium was delayed that mayor publicly fulfilled his that on the opening day by jumping with cameras rolling into the steel pool. I made that pledge last week. If the response ratei would love to jump into celebrate. I expect to lose that belt. Was released on friday Citizen Partnership and exciting innovations. They can conduct the best census everone that is complete and accurate. I look forward to answering your questions. Spoke thank you very much. They are pleased to be here today to discuss the Census Bureau readiness for the 2020 headcount. We have come up with concerns about thein february 2017 we added the 2020 census to the list of high risk government programs. My remarks will focus on challenges. My colleague will discuss the challenge the bureau faces when he and securing it systems. The bottom line is we are inspired pretty not out. Key it systems and operations will function as planned, however, planning budgetary uncertainties the bureau scaled back test in 2017 and 2018. Without sufficient testing across the range of geographic locationsthey were waiting to have their background checks. They expect that all 1500 on board by september 1. Additional steps are needed and the course of 16 operational deliveries. The next few months will he testing and production deadlines or many additional systems. The ongoing work atto assist with counting the population. The bureau needs to closely monitor the rest make sure the systems are delivered on time. Is working hard to assess security controls, needed action for final to make sure is ready for operation. Large majority have an initial acceptance and the work remains. According to the bureau systems will need to have their dirty control reassess to account for Additional Development work prior to the 2020 census. I would like to note that we have been encouraged that they are coordinating and they provided this assistance and information sharing and through conducting true instant management and assessment through other. All of these internal and external including the recent evaluation performed by the Commerce Department office of and hector general are vital especially since the system will support 2020 operation contains identifiable information. And in summary we are running short on time before the operation begins. Moving forward it will be critical for the bureau to devote enough attention and effort to complete the System Development activity and implement Cyber Security improvement in a timely and prioritized way this concludes my statement. Think you and to the witnesses. We will begin our questioning according to the five minute rule. I recognize myself for 5 minutes. I want to focus on the confusion is currently in the field and despite the abandonment of the Citizenship Question in the wake of this decision hundreds of thousands of households are still being asked to answer it in mid june while the case was pending and a bureau pushed a lastminute field test of 480,000 households and half of which got the question and half of which did not. The result has been confusion. People heard it would be asked and yet they received a form from the census that precisely they had rejected. Last week we got a phone call from a citizen wanted to know why she had received a census form with the Citizenship Question. I was asked about a town hall meeting over the weekend. According to the Washington Post one received the form that was receiving the test questionnaire that feels like a scare tactic. Dr. Dillingham, everyone knew the Supreme Court had to rule on the Citizenship Question at the very latest by the end of june. Why did the bureau wait until the end of the month to hear what the decision was before launching this . Mr. Chairman, that is an excellent question. Let me provide some context. The planning, this is a test 2019 was designed for operational consequences. If the question was going to be in the census we wanted to know what would be the impact of devoting resources. The planning for it began last calendar year and it occurred i think in april and it followed as perfectly as possible this same type of schedule we would have with the census and that is the staggered mailing response date and it was to replicate as closely as possible the 2020 census. The form itself on each paid has this is a test and the introduction it has this is a test to help us prepare for the 2020 census. Anyone that reads the information, it should be shown that this is a test. If it says to get ready it implies that the question will indeed be on it. It implies it is a possibility. Have one without the question and have one with the question and our desire was to see what is the differential impact. We follow the schedule and i think, i will double check only one of these staggered mailings that stressed about six weeks the same as with the census and it was for five of those were already in the mail and the last went out the beginning or earlier this week. Spoke whose decision was that. Would we have found a similar test in 2009 . No and and i dont, you can argue this is important strategy. It will take a lot of effort to get the word out on what was this and even though it says this on every page it could strike some concern. Is still going on . It does recite that you are supposed to reply to it. In context of a test we do all sorts of testing. My time has expired and i recognize Mister Keller for 5 minute. I want to make sure i understand. We talked about the importance of making sure we count everybody accurately so that money gets appropriated properly. Another concern is the fact when they transmit information to the government that that is secure. The question i have goes to the it system we are putting in place. Are they Government Employees or do we contract have we vetted them to make sure the information will remain secure and there is no possible way for anyone to hack into it . I would defer to dr. Dillingham. We have very elaborate protections as you are well aware title 13 requires by law that we protect this information the collection during the 2020 census we are using the new devices and we have the latest stateoftheart software and devices and encrypts that when he goes into the device and when it is sent i understand that. The company is sure there is nothing build into that anyone can gain access . But i can assure you that for the contractors and we work with them sound monitor and it goes into the normal safeguarding system. We do apply the state and we have the best minds both in the private sector and the Public Sector working with dhs and the intelligence agencies and the major hightech companies and i can assure you that we have identified no major issue you have identified none, i have a question regarding a 61 million printing and mailing contract issued by the government in october 2017. And it is my understanding they have filed for bankruptcy after . That does predate me. My understanding is and i think the record is clear publicly that a contract was let out at the Government Printing office and the firm it was given to have financial problems and, in fact, it resulted and in a settlement and having to go with another contract. If we of the federal government could even that a company as far as Financial Stability and to make a payment to them i think we should have some concerns that we would be able to make sure the Company Building the software that american citizens are going to be using to transmit their information. I hope you can understand the concern that i have and maybe you can speak to the process. Have processes been put in place to make sure . Yes and im certain. We had another federal agency and i do know that in our agency as well is that Agency Reforms were made to guard against that in the future. Another question. I understand and the company was sold and the contract or the subsidiary that was doing that. Do we approved that if a company is offered a contract were awarded a contract and they sell that subsidiary or whatever i think i better get back and maybe with particulars as to what the acquisition requirements are. The points i want to make is in securing the information to provide to the government should be paramount to all of us and we see a lot about the Citizenship Question and that question should not be controversial, it is not new what the committee should do is when we acquire them to transmit information that this committee focused on making sure that that information is secure. Time is expired and i recognize the gentleman friend from missouri. Think you for conducting this hearing as we know the census is such an essential part of our government and let me start with dr. Dillingham. The marketing ad agency are they considered the marketing prime contractor . Not to my knowledge. The one we have we call it ynr. And that that i will call it the prime contract and those that specialize with hard to count populations. Can you tell me what entity or entities are responsible for the africanamerican media bias . Congressman, we have that information people sitting behind me have that and i will be happy to talk with you. Could you provide that to the committee . Absolutely. When purchasing ads most contractors pay media all lets visit 120 days . Let me answer your former question and i am told the agency is really the prime subcontractor with the africanamerican population. The timing of the buying of the adsthis week, today the career professionals is working in new york city reviewing the Creative Products that are going to be produced for all forms of media, television, radio and out of that process will come the messaging and the material the best of my knowledge is probably late december and i will get you exact dates for purchasing and i know that discussions are going on and the complexity because some of the information is considered to be somewhat proprietary. I do understand that. When you have to pay in advance , do you think that that would inhibit some small minority owned companies from really being able to engage i certainly agree with your concerns and what we better do is get you some particulars to the buying practices and the schedule and another side of the coin is the sooner you by the time the cheaper it is and we can work with you and what coordination may be needed. I can appreciate that and, mr. Chairman and perhaps the bureau could help me with this. I would request that the bureau provide this committee with the names the value of the water contract and when these were executed. I also want to know how these suppliers were selected and finally i would like to know how much money is being allocated for africanamerican media. Can you help us . We will be glad to get you that. Some of it may not have yet been decided and we will get you what we have. If you and i understand how challenging it is hard to account for communities and i want to work with the agency in every aspect of this. Teacher recognizes the gentle lady from West Virginia. Thank you and thank you all for been here today. Democrats on our committee have been so consumed by the citizenship western all the while that we could have been in this very room performing the necessary oversight to make sure that this census goes smoothly, safely and accurately count the number of the people in the United States. If you look at the past census the committee is far behind in conducting the necessary oversight for the 2020 census. Now is our opportunity to get to work and do what the American People have sent us here to do. My district is historically one of the hardest in the country over half of my constituents, 51 , live in socalled hard to count neighborhoods. What is being done by the Census Bureau to make sure that constituents hard to count neighborhoods are accurately accounted for . As i mentioned, that is reaching the heart to count and i understand many of the obstacles and challenges as well as other state and we are working on that diligently. Let me mention some of the important ways. We just mentioned the communication outreach plan so we will have national and localized advertising on the census reminding people how easy, safe and important it is and we hope we will reach those communities and i have seen communities such as yours that has social needs particularly some listen more to the radio them television and other avenues some actually particularly ethnic communities look at their local newspaper and if it is a different language. We have these efforts and another thing we have done which the chairman mentioned is our partnerships. We have more than doubled the partnerships for this and as i mentioned in my Opening Statement the Appropriations Committee asked us to come up with if we received some additional funds how would we use it and we specifically provided that we want to continue some temporary employees during the census if it is funded by congress to reach those hard to count communities and to deploy people with laptops and with phones to help reach them. In the event that the Public Relations communication as well as the outreach efforts and partnerships, even despite all of the new resources and the new technology, we ultimately have the enumerators who will be coming around and knocking on the doors and they will be doing that more efficiently and professionally and those are some of the things, that is not an exhaustive list and we agree with you that we want to reach those communities that are hardest to count and i have seen that and when i went to the nomination they compared himself to West Virginia and covers the same territory as West Virginia and has its own set of circumstances and we are working with them to make sure we can read hard to count. Television a good manner because of the satellite and the rest that the can be reached. Cell phones are another story. Children under 10 years of of age are the most difficult population and this is true in rural areas. What is the Census Bureau doing to make sure children will be counted . Another excellent question. Children are hard to count in many areas and even outside what we would consider hard to count areas particularly important. There has been a problem with counting children since it began. I saw some information shared with me back in 1850 people were commenting on complaining, why is it difficult to count the children . The circumstances have changed and it has remained a perennial problem counting the children so we are partnering with organizations which has devoted staff and time and publication and other national organizations. We are focusing on that population in the campaign as well as with the partnerships specialist. We are working with a variety of lists. We call it the statistics in School Program which is designed for the girls in reaching the Public Schools to reach the children and finally, if we are not getting the results and when we come around and might have to knock on the door we trained our people to ask special questions on if you have any children living in your household and even on the Online Internet we have a drop down that reminds you about are you counting the children. We are looking at it for all angles and it continues to be a problem we are continuing to research that and we have so many partners around the country that are also working and we cherish those relationships to make sure that we are counting the children. Your time has expired. The chair will recognize the gentle lady from florida. I want to focus on the plan. This provides localized assistance and completing the questionnaire helping hard to count communities. Regretfully, we will not. When will you be . As expeditiously as i can. And more specifically when will you be risk on the . Within a week, two weeks . I would envision within two weeks. Will you provide a copy of your response to this committee . Yes. I got them fire westerns for you. In 2010 they have counted more than 700,000 people. I would have to check that. I can assure you. That is more than the how many the Census Bureau said were counted. This is more than the entire population than the state of vermont. Doctor dillingham are there plans to open qac . You are getting rid of these centers where more people of the entire state were counted. We are providing expanded enjoy through other mechanisms. I dont share that view but is it correct that the appropriations bill specifically directed the bureau to open qac. That was not my understanding. I have it right here on the appropriations bill and it says, additionally the bureau will promote funding to open local questionnaire it says, shall. I dont want to differ with you on the language but let me tell you how we are delivering that. It is right here. We are delivering more assistance than ever before. Okay, i have some more yes or no questions because i do not agree with your characterization. Are you aware that many of these qac were budgeted for up to 15 hours of their times but were only open during the hours that people were at work. I know there were problems. Are you aware of that . I cannot in the 2020 audit it was not recommended to eliminate qac but to improve them where you aware of that . The brickandmortar to the bureau we considered but are increasingly allowing for that function. You just said you are not going to have qac. It is a matter of to mineralogy that when we had the mobile Response Unit. I am going to ask you about the mobile Response Unit in a minute. We have carryover funding to guarantee continuity. Of 1 billion . Approximately. Appropriated funding available to you to be opening qac with the census being around the corner. Doctor dillingham will the bureau commit to using some of the 1 trillion in carryover funds to open qac. Congresswoman, my understanding it is not feasible at this point in time. Criticizing qac because they required set up at different hours to provide assistance. Your mobile response initiative, for the most part it will be a twoperson team with ipads parking of that markets festivals and events. I know from experience that unpredictable things like weather can affect this. I went to a festival in june and it poured rain in south florida. No one came. How will two people with a ipad find Critical Mass . We have an interactive live system that is a response outreach area mapping tool that we can monitor during the census. We can monitor Response Rates and target. With two people . We would have more. A multitude of partners. In our discussions not according. The gentleladies time has expired. Thank you. The chair yields to the gentleman from georgia. Thank you very much madame chair. Thank you for being here and i am very glad we are getting around to oversight on the census. I believe we are behind the eight ball at this point. There are so many issues to deal with on the overall strategy component of strategy and staffing. I would like to begin, if i can, director on the i. T. Component. This whole issue of Cyber Threats increasingly is becoming an issue across the board in so many different areas of our personal lives as well as business and government. Where do we stand on this . Congressman, that is one of the primary concerns. This is of anyone following the assistance this is a concern with the Census Bureau. We have been working on it since the last to sense and and we are putting a lot of protections in place. We are working with dhs and Cyber Security. Security agencies and we are closely visiting their facilities and also working with them on a by prong plan. Management, intelligence and network security, response area and incident as well as assessment. We are also working with a private sector, the leaders in hightechnology industry that are assisting us in many different ways. Cyber security is a concern and gao said this is a governmentwide concern throughout the federal government. We are doing everything we can to make sure we have the best minds and the best people and policies and tools to deal with it. We are making tremendous progress. We continue to work on it and by january we will have the system fully tested. Cyber security remains an issue. We are all aware that across the globe, threats are posed. We do scan and each month we scan over 100,000 vulnerabilities. We have an ongoing, very intense and rigorous process of looking for those threats. I would tend to differ with you on some of that. Pieinthesky, i have much more serious concerns. What about you, will there be more i. T. Involved in this census than anyone in our nations history, where do you see that we stand on Cyber Security. It is a key element to the high risk security. Back in 2017, 2 big things here. The additional testing that the bureau has ahead of it with respect to Cyber Security. We are having to reassess 9 systems out of 52. Set five systems to get them to the point of good to go. On the other side we credit the bureau for the assessment effort up to date as well as the effort that Homeland Security has done. We would like to see that turn into corrective action. Ahead of this the bureau has some work to do in terms of assessment but more importantly taking that assessment and turning it into corrections. Absolutely. I totally agree. I will come back to the census security assessment identifying 217 high risk or very high risk corrective actions that needed to be addressed. As i understand there have been 104 of those delayed. It does not sound like you are on the ball here. Congressman, i appreciate your concern and we are concerned as well. I would like to provide context. We have identified 150,000 vulnerabilities and when we dont resolve those vulnerabilities we create a plan of action and establish milestones. Those milestones are what gao looks at. They look at the milestones we have established. We have an ongoing inventory of 300 out of many thousand. We have them coming off each and every day. Is a matter of fact. At least 100 a month. That is several every day coming off of the list and others coming on. As you complete this there is no chance. Pieinthesky as you describe it. We are managing risk and that will be until the census is completed. Risk identified and risk coming off. We are working the list and that is the way we do it. That is the way gao recommends we do business. Risk management and risk mitigation. We have people and resources and that is what we are working out. I would never envision that that list would reach zero. We now turn time over to the gentleman from california, mr. Gomez. While this question is over i believe the ramifications still remain. Here and confusion in the Committee Still exists and we must ensure that millions of americans are counted. Historically communities of color and immigrant communities have been undercounted. As someone who represents one of the most diverse districts in the country, californias 34th Congressional District is home to multiple communities. Composed of a wide range of ethnicities and nationalities. The languages spoken in the district, many residing in multi family households and living beyond the federal poverty level. It makes it difficult and one of the hardest to count districts in the country with 42 of my constituents living in hard to count neighborhoods. More concerning is that the 2027 census is relying on technology. Some positive impact but a concern on heart account communities. The Census Bureau is pushing 80 of the people to respond online with only 20 of communities responding to that option. 35 of u. S. Adults do not have access to reliable internet in their home including 53 of latinos and 53 of latino communities. One quarter of my district households has no access to the internet. The first question given that more than 35 lack of reliable internet i am concerned that 85 of the population will respond online. What is the plan to increase underrepresented that have lower rates of internet access. Congressman that is an internet interesting question. Let me clarify some of the context. When we met last week we also discussed some of these topics. The language assistance will reach 99. 6 of the population and in those areas where there is a substantial Hispanic Community english and spanish. The 80 figure, i apologize i have never heard this before and we dont use the 80 figure. Actually if we received 80 of people responding that would be a mammoth accomplishment but we do not expect that we are aiming for 60. 5 and we will have to see how that comes out. The paper, i want to remind everyone, if a person does not respond online or by phone they are going to receive a paper. In the heart account communities they receive the paper questionnaire in the first communication. Weeks send out 5 mailings to the communities and many of those will receive it in the first mailing and then in the fourth mailing. Every household that has not responded will receive a paper questionnaire that they can submit. In some instances. Let me follow along without. I have been informed that some advocates say the bureau identified that 25 of communities will receive a paper form first. Is that correct . I think if the area is 20 hispanic then they will get the paper in the first mailing. A lot of groups that are working on this one a list of the communities that will receive that can you make that list of communities available. I would not see why not it could be a moving list but we will work with you on that. I appreciate that. If someone wants to answer on a paper form how can they get one . Again, it will be mailed to them. They should get 5 mailings. If they are in hard to count communities they will get it the first and the fourth. The normal, nonheart account population receives it on the fourth. On these mailings they will come to their household, on paper. I am almost out of time but the National Association of latino elected officials reported that 20 of latino population participated. Does that comport with your understanding . I would not challenge that at all but i will check on that. Thank you for coming forward this is an important issue for all of us. I believe the Citizenship Question had a huge negative impact on the counter and i am glad it is resolved. We are still going to work to make sure we have the resources and get everyone on board to ensure a complete and accurate count. I appreciate your support thank you so much. I yield back to the chair. I recognize myself, mr. Telling him i would like to thank you for being here. Please know that congress is a partner in this endeavor. We plan to stay engaged and do the work today in 2019 so we can be ready in 2020. I represent the massachusetts seventh Congressional District which includes boston. Boston ranks ninth along the 100 largest cities. That undercount resulting and start disparity and inequity in the district. Plainly speaking, if you arent counted you do not count. There are so many communities who are unseen and not counted. I would like to focus my russians to the bureau specifically. Doctor dilling him on july 11, 2019 an executive order was signed to obtain citizenship data by other means. Doctor dilling him in light of the executive order will the bureau be producing data on citizens and noncitizens yes or no . Block level, it at a level they will. Citizen vs. Noncitizen that is correct. The availability, i am not quite sure. It is a complicated thing but we also have some important protection at a basic level we call it disclosure avoidance where we inject noise into the data. What level is yet to be determined . Has anyone in the administration indicated that this data will be used to target neighborhoods for Immigration Enforcement . Yes or no . I am aware of concerns. The Census Bureau never does any Law Enforcement. We are prohibited from law. The only thing we release our statistics. Aggregate numbers and we protect privacy. The data is made available to the nation. I can tell you. My time is short. What would you say to those concerned about this data being used for that purpose. I understand what you are saying but how do you communicate that very important and one of the things we are doing is messaging for our Outreach Campaign to make sure the security that is in places understood and why they should not be afraid to complete the census. What is important about members of congress, others in the community my district is 40 immigrant. 150 different languages. Do you have the Staffing Resources to communicate in the multiculturally way given the diversity of historically undercounted communities . We do have language assistance that 99 . Once we enter the numeration phase the numerators are trained to get the assistance. We have outreach for people with special needs of all types. We will, through our and numerators and Outreach Campaign to address those needs. Can you confirm that that citizenship Data Collected will not be used in the bureaus count . We let me get back to you on that. Do you believe it should be used for that purpose. I have no belief whatsoever but i need to know the mechanic, congresswoman,. Is it possible to get back to me in the next 10 days . Can you give me an answer on that, in writing. I dont see why i couldnt but i dont have the answer. Will the information be used in determining the allocation of federal resources for medicaid . We do not determine the uses we just produce the numbers. Do you believe it should be used for that purpose . We hope that our data is accurate and complete and is useful for many purposes. All the federal programs holding more than what people estimate, it could be close to 1 trillion. We hope the data they are using is very accurate and complete. Have you or anyone you know discuss this citizenship data in the redistricting files . Redistricting file . Congresswoman, let me get back to you on that. I would love to understand and what the nature of those conversations were and who participated. I can only refer you to the executive order that we will be looking at and putting the administration together with that. Whatever that executive order is. All right doctor, my time has expired i now recognize the gentlelady from new york. I think the chair lady for yielding and i think the panelists for their testimony today it has been a very busy last week in congress. I think you for your hard work. In the past 2 years, it has shown that the census is vulnerable to political manipulation. When the Citizenship Question was added, in fact, our nation was one vote away from erasing an estimated 8 million people. This was from the formulas we used to determine who represents us and governs us and how we distribute over 700 billion in general funds yearly. We really cannot allow our country to be in that position again where the accuracy of the census is off. Question my first question is about a bill that i authored called the business idea act that would prevent arbitrary and capricious harmful questions from being added at the last minute, over the objections of the professionals at the Census Bureau and many others. The way you would prevent that is required by law, basically the administrative code, as it is now, requires in law testing periods for each question. Additional reporting to congress on that testing and certification by the gao. The tests were adequate before forms can be printed. This bill, in my opinion would allow the country to be protected from what judge furman called a capricious and arbitrary addition of questions to the census. Basically they have a formula that is in a administrative code and the Census Bureau decided not to follow the administrative code. I would like to present this question to all of you in writing and, with the bill, give you a chance to see the bill and a response from gao on whether you think it would prevent capricious and arbitrary tempering with the census in the future so that it is well thought out, approved and done in the proper procedure. I think it is important we, not only make sure that everyone is accounted for but we prevent any type of behavior that undermines the activity of the census. Now, moving forward, would all of you respond in writing to this question and viewing it . Id appreciate it. Thank you. I really want to talk about the Neighborhood Partnership specialist. I understand that that is critical. We have the Census Bureau up and running in new york and the director says that these partnerships are very important. We need to have them fully operational and they are essential to the 2020 census. I would like to ask, first of all, mr. Dillingham , do you think these partnerships are important . Are you, the goal was to have 1500 Partnership Specialist on board by june and did we meet that deadline how far behind is the bureau and then i would like to hear from mr. Telling him if we can move forward quickly to get this in place. Thank you, that is an excellent question. Partnership specialists are so important in terms of commencing people. Particularly populations that are traditionally undercounted to participate in the census. A socalled trusted voices. The Census Bureau had planned to hire 1500 Partnership Specialists by the end of june of this year. They fell short of that goal and as of july eighth, they had only 813 Partnership Specialists hired. They hope, now, to reach that full complement of 1500 by september. Already, the Census Bureau is two months behind on this important effort. Mr. Dillingham, as i understand the delay in hiring is caused by background checks and the bureau is about to embark on a massive hiring effort hiring 15,000 workers for area censuses of nonresponse followup. If the bureau can handle the 1500 how will they handle 15,000 which i understand is your goal . Congresswoman, i certainly appreciate it and i agree with your observation on how important the specialists are. As a matter of fact when i have been in your office in new york city we had Partnership Specialist with us and i addressed the region Partnership Specialist in a call while we were outside your office. I also noticed, besides this Partnership Specialist we shared the information where you had the longest list of the members of congress and districts in terms of partners. We commend you on that on the Partnership Specialist we have made more than 1600 offers and the majority are encore. We are waiting for the few that you pointed out and within 30 days they will all be boarded. We should have, what we envisioned, 1500 but we made offers for more than 1600. The Appropriations Committee, we suggested an option for congress to consider that we could, in fact, site the 1500 that doubled from the last census. We could have up to 5000 that would assist the Partnership Specialists and that would be based on the assistant recruiters that have gone through the hiring process and be dispatched to assist the Partnership Specialist. There is a mammoth effort being made in devotion of resources. In our hiring we are hiring the address canvassers. My question is not the 1500 that you are going to move forward on but you are supposed to hire another 15,000 on nonresponse followup workers. If you are having problems hiring the 1500 how are you going to hire 15,000. I appreciate your concern but we have not reached the stage. That will be in our peak hiring. We have over a half 1 million applicants in our system. More than 600,000 have gone to our website and begun to process. We are hiring 40,000 out of that 500,000. At this point in time we are very presently surprised at the job pool that was out there. Time has expired. Will you give me two seconds more . Mr. Telling him will you commit to provide a detailed plan to this committee on how you will approve the background check process and stay on schedule . We want you to stay on schedule please let us know how you will do it. We certainly will thank you so much. May i think the chairman for being a visionary . I appreciate that. The gentlelady from illinois is now recognized. Thank you doctor dillingham the 2020 census stores data from respondents, correct . That is being pursued and that is correct. Investigating the bureaus i. T. System for the 2020 system is fundamental security that violated federal standards and policies are you familiar with that . Sim. In that report it is found to be a risk for 2020. Doctor dillingham, it is where residents confidential data will be stored, correct . Critical systems left vulnerable and found the basic security practices were not implemented to protect title 13 data. I have basic practices not been implemented to protect data which is considered the most confidential. Certainly, congresswoman, there was no breach of the system. Is revealed in that report, as the system was being set up, it really was an access issue and we do involve contractors. There was a generalization of corrective actions taken to make sure that no one has the special capabilities of accessing the system and they further identified the problem of when you have data on the cloud you need hands in place to take it down so none of the data remains. That are two things we really respect, immediate action was taken and it was some time ago. It involved contractors in setting up the system. By the time of the 2020 census, those corrective actions have already taken place but we will have more by the time of the 2020 census. Concluding many of these deficiencies that the bureau is behind schedule. Do you agree that the euro rushed to deploy i. T. Systems and truncated i. T. Security testing. Yes, we previously reported on the bureau itself saying there were time constraints resulting in shorter time. Doctor dillingham, the bureau agreed on recommendations . Let me explain. We appreciate these people looking over our soldier shoulder. They hold our feet to the fire. If we are not meeting those milestones they remind us and we appreciate it greatly. I think we have agreed to all. Maybe there is one that was post2020 but the normal practice is to agree and to take corrective action. How are you doing on your timeline . With completing your recommendation and repairing the fundamental security deficiencies. There are certain areas and the ones they were tracking are making progress. Corrective actions have been taking and we monitor it each and every week to make sure progress has been made and we will continue to do that. Tracking progress . We coordinate very closely with the Inspector Generals office on related reviews and on a continual basis to recommend. I believe there were 8 recommendations made. Several of them we think are very vital to implement as quickly as possible. Have you received a plan . I think it would be great to refer to the ig on those recommendations but this relates to our general recommendations around corrective actions and ensuring the bureau is prioritizing this good feedback that its getting from sources and what to tackle for us additionally the gao found that the bureau is that risk of not meeting the new i. T. System development and milestones for 2020 census operational delivery. Can you tell us what those 5 are and how they are delayed . Sure, the five operational deliveries are peak recruiting and hiring, internet self response, remote counting and Group Quarters numeration, advance and activities. In terms of where they are, there are multiple milestones related to each of these deliveries. Across the 52 system several systems may be touched at different times. The most important ones will be on what operations are coming up. To the bureaus credit, canvassing from recent tracking and coming off of the at risk list that operation is starting up in august but we will continue to monitor those deliveries, as well. They all sound very important and critical to the 2020 census. The time is expired and we now go to the gentleman from the Fourth District of nevada. Thank you mr. Chairman and thank you so much for allowing me to be here today. To speak about the importance of the u. S. Census. Particularly for the African American community. Yesterday that congressional launched a census for 2020, census task force which i will chair. One of the goals of the task force will be to partner with the Census Bureau and coalition stakeholders to ensure an inclusive, complete and accurate 2020 census count. We will also work to increase the participation of all communities specifically black residents as well as black immigrants and ensure a fair and accurate count of all people across the United States. During the last census count in 2010, africanamericans were undercounted by over 800,000. That is totally unacceptable and we must close the gap and ensure higher participation in the 2020 census so that all communities that meet federal resources are able to receive them. My question is, first, did the bureau have a goal or plan to improve the black undercount and increase participation . Congressman, we certainly do. I agree with every statement you just made. There is nothing more important , no higher priority than reaching the heart account. In and among the heart account are certain populations including the black population. We are engaged in that and we are doing it in the ways that i have mentioned in terms of communications and in terms of partnerships. I wanted to commend you that one of the most important things is to have the groups at the local level that are on the task forces. A complete count committee we cannot conduct a census without the support of the congress and communities and state and local government. I commend you for doing that. We have given toolkits to all members of congress and i know many are helping us in so many ways i appreciate your help. I look over to reviewing that plan. Has a analysis been done to determine the impact of consolidation of the census offices having on heart account communities. For instance, we learned that within our Task Force Meeting that there are only 6 regional census offices to serve the entire United States. What analysis when into this decisionmaking to reduce by half the amount of census offices and what steps are being done to remedy this issue . Mr. Congressman, the regional offices that are in place permanently, we have 248 area census offices that is, in fact, a reduction from the past. Let me explain to you that in reducing those offices we are beefing up the mobile response so we can take the devices directly into the Community Centers, churches and into areas of need. What was the justification for check cutting by half the offices . There were 450 and there are 12 regional offices. If you could just get to us. Generally, it was the conclusion of the Census Bureau who have done many censuses that it was not cost effective. We had Better Technology so we could reach People Better devoting more resources to reach those people in the bricks and mortar and it was not working. The general Accountability Office has said that this census cannot follow the same practices of the past. That was one of the areas that we saw a great opportunity for improvement. One of those areas was to have it completed through the internet . However. Heart account communities that do not have access to the internet what are the bureaus plans to ensure seniors, low income population and others get counted . Again, that is one of the areas that we are working the hardest on. We have a lot to show. The tools we have with the internet and telephone options where people can answer any time anywhere are very important for heart to count communities. In columbia, South Carolina they are putting wifi in city buses people can get on the phone and answer the census in less than 10 minutes it is very important we apply these technologies to the heart account communities. We are in total agreement with you there. The brickandmortar idea, it is gone. If i could do an analogy, it is if you are in the volume pizza business you usually have a delivery service. We need to preach these people in the most efficient, effective way possible. And working with the groups, that you are part of, it would enable us to do that. When you go to a Community Center we expect we would have a Partnership Specialist there but we will have dozens of people from that Community VolunteerOrganization Partner and stakeholder that will be working with us and that really makes it happen and gets the job done. s emac thank you the time has expired and we finally recognize the gentlelady from massachusetts. Thank you. Regarding the diversity, as i said nearly 40 of my residents are foreignborn and speak a language other than english. How do you plan to engage those communities. You have a big job in combating misinformation and hate and fear that has been stoked. I would like to use the platform responsibility. One of my constituents comes across on social media or mail and they believe it is fraudulently representing themselves as the census how should they report that . We will have procedures in place to do that. We will have, through our customer assistance, people can pick up the phone and say someone is in my neighborhood where there is something on the internet. Is there a number you can share, a number or website where they should go or contact . On the website, i will check to see what that is there should be referral information and there should be procedures in place to report. We are looking at working with Law Enforcement nationwide to make sure they are aware of that process. Are there any people that can contact to find out if the document is a legitimate document . Specifically, for that, i think there is but i will verify and get back to you. They appreciate having information at their platform to combat fraud. Absolutely. Fraud is one of the things we are working with other agencies on to prevent. Thank you. Thank you so much the gentlelady time has expired i would like to thank all of the members and thank the witnesses for excellent testimony. We look forward to working with you for the most successful possible count in 2020. Thank you so much. If he were more information on members of congress, porter cspans congressional order cspans congressional directory. Its available on the cspan store. The Supreme Court ruled 54 on friday to allow the Trump Administration to begin using pentagon money for border wall construction. The court overturned an appellate Court Decision and the New York Times reports the administration cap