And whether to extend the statutory deadline. S hearing. Pursuant to house rules, some members will appear in person, and others will appear remotely via webx. Since some members are appearing in person, let me first remind everyone that pursuant to the latest guidance from the house attending physician, all individuals attending this hearing in person must wear a face unless they are talking. Members who are not wearing a face mask will not be recognized. Let me also make a few reminders for those in person. You will only see members and witnesses appearing remotely on the monitor in front of you. When they are speaking in what is known in webx as an active speaker view. A temer is visible in front of you. For timer is visible in front of you. Let me remind everyone of a few points. For members appearing remotely, i know you are familiar and here are the points. First, you will be able to see each person speaking during the hearing, whether in person or remote, as long as you have your webex set to active speaker view. If you have any questions, please Contact Committee staff immediately. Second, we have a timer that should be visible on your screen when you are in the active speaker, with thumbnail view. Members who wish to pin the timer to their screen should contact staff for assistance. Third, the house rules require that we see you, so please have your cameras turned on at all times. Fourth, members appearing remotely, not recognized, should be muted to minimize background noise and feedback. I will recognize members verbally, but they maintain to receive recognition verbally. In regular order, members will be recognized in seniority. Betly, if you want to recognized outside of regular order, you may identify that in several ways. You may use the chat function to send a request. You may send an emailed to the majority staff, or you may unmute your mic to seek recognition. Obviously, we do not want people talking over each other, so my preference is members use the chat function or email to facilitate formal verbal recognition. Committee staff will ensure i am made aware of the request and i will recognize you. We will begin in just a moment when they tell me they are ready to begin the livestream. Do i need somebody to tell me . Pardon me . Are we ready . The committee will come to order. Without objection, the chair is authorized to declare recess of the committee at any time. I now recognize myself for an opening statement. Good morning and thank all of you for joining me today, especially our witnesses. This past april, the Trump Administration asked congress to pass urgent legislation to extend several key statutory deadlines for the 2020 census for about four months. This request was based on unprecedented delays caused by the Coronavirus Crisis. The president personally advocated for these extensions. Thinkd, and i quote, i enough. Isnt nearly quickly, responded bypassing these extensions on may 15, because of the heroes act. I also introduced standalone legislation, the fair and active census act. In the Senate Introduced a companion bill. However, on july 28, the Trump Administration seemed to reverse course. The Commerce Department told the Census Bureau it needed to deliver data to the president by the end of the year. And the senate has failed to act to pass the time delay. As a result, Census Bureau workers were forced to rewrite carefully considered plans over the course of a weekend. They had to cut Field Operations by a month and they had to slash the Data Processing operations from five months to three. Ant week, i released internal document. This document, showing that Census Bureau officials warned the Commerce Department about how these cuts would significantly damage the 2020 census. Quote, andned that, im quoting from this report, eliminated activities will reduce accuracy. They highlighted that the compressed schedule creates r isk for serious errors not being discovered in the data. Errors,y warned, these may not be fixed because of the lack of time. There is strong partisan support for extending these deadlines bipartisan support for extending these deadlines, so why has the Trump Administration seemingly gone back on this request . Why did they ask . They asked for the extension. And then why did they reverse themselves and drop it . And why cant we give the Census Bureau professionals the time that they need for an accurate and complete count of everyone . Have the full story. But the white house chief of staff stated the reason for this change, and i quote, his quote is, the democrats just want to control the apportionment, and we are not going to let them do that. Forgettement seems to that it was the Trump Administration that asked for this change in the first place, that asked for this extension, not democrats. There also seems to suggest donald trump will not be president next year, so the administration wants to control apportionment this year while he is still in office. But there is a much bigger problem with this statement. An undercount will directly harm states, and therefore people, across this country, including states with large populations who vote republican. An undercount will reduce the amount of funding these estates are entitled to receipt these statesare in theses are entitled to receive. Federal trillion dollars payments to states based on census numbers, and if the numbers are not correct, then the payments to the communities are not correct or fair. This is not a theoretical risk. Today, i am releasing several Staff Reports showing the negative impact on states with particularly hard to count populations. Alabama, arizona, florida, montana,kentucky, North Carolina, south carolina, texas, and utah. These estates, and others these states, and others, could be directly harmed by the president s rushing and inaccurate count by december. Thats why a number of republican senators have come out in support of extending the deadlines. Thate quote from a letter senator steve gaines from montana sent to Mitch Mcconnell and chuck schumer, urging them to pass legislation to extend the deadlines. En wrote, and i quote, giv the rural nature of montana and the additional challenges brought about by the covid19 pandemic, reverting the deadline back to september 30, 2020, will leave tens of thousands of montanans unaccounted and underrepresented at the federal level. Nearly half of the households in the state have yet to be counted. It is critical that a full and accurate census is completed and every montana is counted. This should not be a partisan issue. Senatora republican from montana. He supports the extensions because people from his state will lose federal funding to which they are entitled. Saturday,y, this past a federal judge issued an order temporarily halting to end the senses early. This is good news census early. This is good news, but we should not wait for the courts. Last month, four former census directors, one of them here with us today, warned that we cannot have an accurate census using the current schedule. The Coronavirus Crisis has made that impossible. If you support full funding for your state, if you support providing your constituents with health care, wellfunded schools, hospitals, even road and bridge repair, then you should support these extensions. They will ensure your states are fully counted. [inaudible] sorry. S back, should i go back . You should go back. To where . To montana. Shes going back. I regret that the sound was dropped, so i am now going back. We had a technical problem. Not a partisan issue. Ok, this is ok. This is not a partisan issue. Let me quote from a letter that senator steve daines from montana sent to Mitch Mcconnell , urging themumer to pass legislation to extend the deadlines. He wrote, and i quote, given the rural nature of montana and the additional challenges brought about by the covid19 pandemic, reverting the deadline back to september 30, 2020, will leave tens of thousands of montanans uncounted and underrepresented at the federal level. Nearly half of the households in the state have yet to be counted. It is critical that a full and accurate census is completed and every montanan is counted. This should not be a partisan issue. This is a republican senator from montana. He supports the extensions because people from his state will lose federal funding to which they are entitled. Over 1. 5 trillion is distributed every year based on census numbers and formulas to our cities and states and to our people. On saturday, a federal judge issued an order temporarily halting efforts to end the census early. This is good news, but we should not wait for the courts to determine the fate of the senses. Last month, in this room, four former census directors, one of then, john thompson, is here with us today. They warned that we cannot have an accurate census using the current schedule. The Coronavirus Crisis has made that impossible. If you support full and fair funding for your state, if you support providing your constituents with health care, wellfunded schools, hospitals, even roads and bridges, then you should support these extensions. They will ensure your states a estate is fully counted. This debt senate should do what the Trump Administration originally requested and what people at the Census Bureau need, pass legislation to extend these deadlines and ensure a full and fair and accurate census for our country. Thank you for your indulgence. I will give the Ranking Member extra time, should he require it and want it. Recognize the wrecking member Ranking Member for his opening statement. Thank you, chairwoman maloney. I appreciate you calling us in today, even though we got in 22 minutes late. Let me begin by saying, unequivocally, the 2020 census has challenged every resident in the United States, regardless of citizenship status. Any assertions to the contrary or scare are scare tactics. The census is underway now. I want to encourage all people to complete the census form. Onsus takers are knocking doors to not responding households. I encourage everyone to engage. If you are concerned about them coming to your door, you can complete your 2020 census online now. [indiscernible] instead, democrats have once launched a partisan investigation into the 2020 census. Surprise attack. Hearing is supposedly about the accuracy of the 2020 census. However, no witnesses from the bureau have been invited. Why arent we hearing from the Census Bureau about the senses . Census . Well, its because democrats dont like what they have to say. In transcribed briefings, three officials stated that as of now, the 2020 senses could be accurately and fully completed by september 30 of this year. These stats contradict the democrats narrative about the 2020 senses, so they just wanted to ignore them. The truth is that technological improvements have made it impossible to gather information more info more efficiently than ever before. Here are the facts, according to career Census Bureau officials. As of september 8, 2020, nationwide, 88. 8 of all households have been counted in the 2020 senses. Followup, 66 of the has been completed. Have counted 90 or more of all households. All states have counted 75 or more of all households. They are working at a more productive pace than expected. The000 are working across country with another 69,000 in training to begin later. These are the real facts about the senses that all americans should know. The democrats know these facts but are choosing to ignore them. President trump took a very important step to ensuring equal representation under our constitution. The president enacted the secondary of commerce to [indiscernible] which in excludes nonlegal residents, including Illegal Immigrants. Includeicans should [indiscernible] including Illegal Immigrants only dilutes representation for all americans and makes a mockery of our basic rentable of one person, one vote. The president s action restores the concept of government provisions by the constitutions. Constitution. [indiscernible] representation should matter to everyone. Its a simple question of fairness. Predictably, the democrats leftwing allies have already filed lawsuits. I have no doubt the information gathered in the partisan advanced investigation will be linked to their leftwing friends. [indiscernible] the legal questions about the president s actions are likely to end up at the Supreme Court. Coordinated Pressure Campaign against chief Justice Roberts and the other Supreme Court justices. The democratic minority, leftwing allies are all working together to undermine the 2020 senses. I urge that we all focus on the task at hand. Census bytion of the september 30, 2020. Thank you, and i yield back. Thank you. I now recognize my good friend, mr. Raskin, who is the chairman of the subcommittee on civil rights and Civil Liberties for an opening statement. Thank you so much, madam chair, for holding this hearing and being such a great champion for the census. Toanted to take a second remind my friend that the Trump Administration must a case to challenge it in the Supreme Court. It has already rejected their efforts to post graffiti all over the census. Look, its difficult enough in a normal year to conduct the senses of all the American People. Its infinitely harder in the middle of a pandemic and the intricate plans and military like schedule that was a decade in the making had been completely unended upended by this Coronavirus Crisis and the incompetence and indifference of the Trump Administration, thereby creating an unprecedented challenge for the bureau despite the herculean effort and theres still a shocking amount left to do to meet the mandate. Least 3 ofday, at households had not given counted in florida, North Carolina, new mexico, south carolina, louisiana, arizona, mississippi, montana, and georgia. At the bottom is alabama, where the bureau still has not enumerated 20 of households. That doesnt seem like much, perhaps, but 1520 are not counted, more than 12 million americans will be missed. The threat of an inaccurate cap is no more of a blue state problem then covid19 is a blue state problem. Of those 10 states at the bottom of the barrel in numeration, seven republicans represent in them or on this committee. Republicans. By more than half of those states have all republican delegations in the senate. This is a problem not for blue states or red states, but people of the United States. The census is important for two main things, money or power. If you dont care, dont worry about the senses. If you do, pay attention. I have the honor of serving on the subcommittee. Many dont realize how crucial the census is to our covid19 response and the ability of the government to meet the needs of the people. Act, which established the relief fund, required it be distributed based on population data. Callus studies tracking the prevalence have relied on census data and our understanding of the disproportionate impact on communities of color is also based on census data. The census is used two determinate to determine hospitals, where to set up shop, and to help cities and counties determine where to build roads that will help carry workers and consumers to businesses. The senses cannot become a hostage, once again, to a political fight perpetrated by this administration and their allies in congress. It is foundational to the american constitutional system and to representative democracy. There will only grow in importance as we use the data to fight the pandemic and rebuild our devastated economy. This is not the time to rush things in the interest of some partisan advantage. It is time to get it right. The pandemic has not only made the count itself harder. It has made post in numeration data integrity even more compelling and essential. In a normal year, the bureau counts everyone as close to april 1 as possible. This year, it has been stretched for many months, six or seven months. Six or seven months with people scattered around the country. College students have abandoned their dorms. Laidoff workers are moved in with families. Medical professionals are shuffled around the nation to hotspots. Essential workers quarantined themselves away from normal family members. Loved ones who have been counted on april 1 sadly succumbed to the disease before their household was enumerated. I need not remind my colleagues we have lost more than 190,000 americans to this nightmare. The chances seem higher than ever before that a lot of people are going to be missed while others may be double counted. This calls for a more comprehensive, robust, and elongated post in numeration data review process. But instead, the bureau cut its schedule by 40 from 150 days to around 90 days. The bureau knows this is not enough time. We all know this is not enough time. The bureau has been asking for an extension since april, when it first concluded it could not meet the current steps to redistricting while still delivering the high quality counts. The house has already agreed to this common sense plan, but the heroes act, which granted the extension the administration requested, still is not law. This has left the bureau stick scrambling and caused the agency to abandon its carefully crafted Data Processing schedule for a seat of a plan cobbled together in a couple of days. This is not how an efficient modern governm