Transcripts For CSPAN3 House Oversight Hearing On 2020 Censu

With the House Oversight and reform committee. They discussed the Citizenship Question, Internet Access, language barriers, as well as counting certain populations like the homeless, exoffenders and tribal communities. The hearing also addressed how census numbers impact education, health care and infrastructure programs. This is four hours. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] without ox the chair is authorized to declare recess of the committee at any time. With that ill now without objection the chair is authorized to declare recess of the committee at any time. With that i will now recognize myself to give an Opening Statement and mr. Gomez will follow me with a minute and the same will be given to the Ranking Member. Good morning. Thank you for everyone for being here today to discuss a topic which is vital to our democracy, the census. The 2020 census is imminent with counting set to begin in alaska in less than two weeks and across the country on april 1. The constitution requires every person to be counted. Every Single Person living in the United States of america, not just citizens, not just people of a particular Political Party or race, absolutely everyone. I am gravely concerned that the Census Bureau may not be prepared to meet this high bar and that the 2020 census could leave communities across the country undercounted, underrepresented, and underfunded. The Government Accountability office and the department of commerce Inspector General both agree that the census is not where it should be. Sadly, under President Trump, we are forced to ask whether the failure to address these concerns is due to incompetence or is intentional. The Census Bureau has been plagued by delays in hiring. Thousands of census workers needed to ensure every person is counted. These delays hurt hardtocount communities the most because outreach from trusted voices and nonresponse followup are essential in these communities. The administrations antiimmigrant policies and its illegal effort to add a Citizenship Question have made an accurate count even harder to obtain by sowing fear and distrust in communities across the country. But this appears to be the point. As republican operative thomas hoffler, the socalled michelangelo of redistricting, put it, adding a Citizenship Question would be, and i quote from him, quote, advantageous for republicans and nonhispanic whites, end quote. Ultimately the administrations goal in trying to add a Citizenship Question seems to be to take the hardtocount and make them the uncounted. This is why i introduced a bill last year, the census idea act, to remove the Citizenship Question and codify the process by which questions are added to the census form. When the Supreme Court ruled that the attempt to had athe Citizenship Question was illegal, the administration refused for almost two weeks to accept the outcome before finally following the law. Even still the president is trying to use administrative records to collect citizenship data, but this has nothing to do with the 2020 census. The Census Bureau needs to make clear that everyone can participate in the census without fear, that doing so will not hurt them or their family, and that their personal data will be secure. The Census Bureau also faces a host of new challenges as it executes the largest census in history and the first to be conducted almost mostly and entirely online. Cyber threats, limited broadband access, reduced language assistance, and gaps in outreach efforts all threaten the success of the census. Data from the census will determine the apportionment of every seat in the house of representatives, and the allocation of roughly 1. 5 trillion in federal funding. An undercount means fewer federal dollars for communities that need them most, including for essential Public Services like medicaid, Childrens Health, insurance, foster care and schools. An undercount would also mean less representation for these communities at every level of government. If youre not counted, youre not represented. Some states, including california and my home state of new york, are trying to fill the gaps in the Census Bureaus efforts to reach hardtocount communities. I applaud these efforts and urge every state to do the same. The bureau should coordinate with these states so that limited resources can be used most effectively and efficiently. To be clear, i believe the career Civil Servants of the Census Bureau are working hard to achieve the mission of a complete and accurate census, but they need help and they need it quickly. Our Witnesses Today know these hardtocount communities better than anyone. We should value their expertise and pay heed to their recommendations, and i know i will. In november 2018, my predecessors, our beloved chairman, elijah cummings, vowed that ensuring a fair, accurate and nonpartisan census would be a top priority of the Oversight Committee on his watch, and he was good to his word. As chairwoman, i intend to honor that commitment. So i want to thank everyone for coming and i look forward to their testimony and i would now like to call on jimmy gomez for one minute. Thank you, chairwoman maloney. As we all know, todays hearing is not a theoretical exercise. The 2020 census is just days away and the threat of an undercount is real. The last census failed to count more than 750,000 latinos, more than 750,000 africanamericans, and more than 50,000 American Indians and native alaskans. Im very concerned that we could see an even bigger undercount in 2020. Many americans are fearful and mistrustful of their government and overcoming that fear and mistrust requires a massive mobilization effort that we have never seen before. But the Census Bureau appears to be far behind schedule. An undercount will have an impact on the opportunities available to the people in these communities. It will mean more people going without health care, fewer resources for child care, afford al housing, and less money for local schools. As a committee and a congress, our message should be simple. Everyone must be counted. Im grateful to each of our witnesses here today not just for assisting the committee but for your tireless advocacy to ensure that members of communities are counted fairly and accurately as the constitution requires. With that, i yield back. The chair now recognizes the Ranking Member. I thank the chair. Before getting to my Opening Statement, madam chair, when we last met i brought up the scathing report that Inspector General horowitz and the Justice Department brought forward last month. A report where even former fbi director jim comey on National Television had to say that he was wrong in his defense of the fbi and how they handled the fisa application process in the trump russia investigation. You indicated you would let us know when we were going to have mr. Horowitz in front of this committee. Understand what he pointed out, 17 different times i thank the gentleman. Were still waiting for an answer, madam chair. Id love to give you an answer. So the purpose of this hearing is on the census and i appreciate the Ranking Members persistence on this issue. Before the Inspector Generals report was released to the public, all members of the Oversight Committee had the opportunity to read the report and attend a briefing with the office of the Inspector General. The Senate Judiciary Committee Held a hearing on the Inspector Generals report on december 11th. The Senate Committee on Homeland Security followed with its own hearing on december 18th. The Inspector General testified at both of these hearings answereded numerous questions about the report, so i deeply appreciate the Ranking Members request and i wrote him a letter on december 6. At this point i dont think another hearing is necessary and i look forward to working with him on areas where we can Work Together to improve the lives of our constituents. So madam chairman, why dont we have a census hearing over in the senate then if were always going to rely on the senate to have these hearings. The gentleman is not recognized. Well, then i have a point of order. Then i have a point of order, and ill be glad because rule recite your rule of order. Rule 11, clause 2 j, section 1 actually talks about minority hearings. One of the issues that weve had, madam chairman, is that we believe that this committee needs to be doing their oversight function. And i bring up jack evans. Weve had jack evans resign from the d. C. Council. It was the previous chairman along with i would say the gentleman from virginia, mr. Connelly and i that expressed concern about proper oversight. Will the gentleman cite your point of order. The point of order is, is under that rule we have the requirement for a minority hearing of which was not noticed properly and was ambiguous at best and did not get to the heart of the matter because it was not conducted. And if if the chairman is going to argue a response to your point of order. We had a minority day of hearings on the d. C. I would i would. Im reclaiming my time. No, no. I would appeal the ruling of the chair. There is no ruling. There is no ruling. There is in point of order. Is my point of order out of order or not . You have stated a point of order. You violated the rule by not having a minority hearing that was properly noticed. We had a minority hearing. I appeal you are out of order. I appeal the ruling of the chair. Im reclaiming my time. I appeal the ruling of the chair. I have that right. I promise you, i have that right. For a minority hearing on a minority hearing that we already had on d. C. Statehood . Has mr. Evans has mr. Evans been here . Mr. Evans was invited to come along with others that were requested by the minority. I say we subpoena jack evans. They did not come. Its not up to me to get them to come. You invited them to get them there. I make a motion that we subpoena jack evans and have him come in. If we want to do proper oversight, i make a motion we subpoena jack evans. The gentleman has knottnot s a proper point of view. The gentleman has stated a proper point of view. Whether she wants to rule on it, i can assure the parliamentarian, ill be glad to go back and forth with her if she wants to put on her mic. Its not a proper point of order. I appeal the ruling of the chair. He gentlem has not stated a proper point of order. All right. It is the Ranking Members time. The Ranking Member is recognizing for his Opening Statement. Yield. Its your time, mr. Ranking member. Well, let me go back to we have a lot of concerns, madam chair. Let just be honest, and not only with the fact that mr. Evans has stepped town and we have yet to have him in front of the committee and also i rateses the issue of mr. Horowitzs report which again 17 different times the fbi misled the fisa court. Let me just read something. Just read something. That the chair talked about the senate having hearings but i thought this committee, which has oversight for every single Inspector General in our government, and were talking now about the Justice Department Inspector General, this is what the public order from the fisa court jung, judge collier, what she had to say after mr. Horwitzs report last month. The frequency with which representations made by fbi personnel turned out to be unsupported or contradicted by the gentleman excuse me, Ranking Member no, no, the time is mine. Youre recognize he for an Opening Statement on the census. The time is mine. And oh, my gosh. All i know is during your Opening Statement the time didnt even run youch developed me you would give us the same opportunity during our Opening Statement. Let me go back before i was interrupted and read judge colliers statement in her public order after mr. Horowitzs report. The frequency with which representations made by fbi personnel turned out to be unsupported or contradicted by information in their possession, and with which they withheld information, detrimental to their case, calls into question whether information contained in other fbi applications is reliable. Lets put that in plain english. They lied so much to the fisa court that the judge is saying how can be trust other representations you have made to this court. Thats what she said. Of mr. Horowitzs report and to date the chair doesnt even want to have a hearing. The chairmans response was, oh, the senate had a couple hearings, thats good enough. Even though this committee has injury disk over every single inspector gene government. Whats why we want mr. Horwitz hering for a hear. Had one when we republicans were in charge. We brought in the Inspector General after a big report but is guess things are different. Mr. He vans should have been here. Mr. Horowitz should have been here already. Unfortunately obviously the chairwoman wont do that. My remaining tomorrow i want to address the situation of the census. Thank you for convening this hearing. Oversight of the census is a core responsibility. I worry that since last january, democrats have been moretouch more focuses on using our committee to attack at the Trump Administration than addressing fundamental Good Government oversight like predness for the crepitus. The rein tess determines he is a poresment of seat the house and dictates how federal funds are and provides crucial detailed about the side of our population. Theft da tase the Gold Standard for research evers and statisticians to better understand e. Trends in american life. When we were in the majority the republicans healed several hearings but rein cuss predness back to 2015. In 2018 alone republicans convened five hearings or briefings weapon looked at important top yings like Information Technology preparation, Cyber Security prepareness and south to understand how the bureau was getting ready for their fit census that will allow people to commit responses online. Rather than conducting similar meaningful oversight the democrats cement a year trying to stop one simple question, are you a citizen . One question. Since obtaining the majority in january 2019 the drops healed on one hearing on the 2020 census that did not focus on one question. Since obtaining the majority in 2019, democrats have only held one hearing that did not focus on the census Citizenship Question, just one. After all of these months i do not understand why democrats do not want to know how many u. S. Citizens are living in the United States . Its a question on our census before, asked around the world and United Nations encourages countries to ask. Frankly, if you ask our constituents, should we ask on the census if youre a citizen . The person on the street would say well, of course. Arent we already doing that . And you would have to say yes, we are, and we have been doing it 200 years until now. Democrats argue it is declined to scare racist communities to underestimate populations and thats not correct. They conducted a test last summer of selfresponse of including a citizen question and found there was no difference no difference in selfResponse Rates between forms with and forms without a citizen question. Theres no difference in selfresponds rate with forms with and forms without a citizen question. The Trump Administration removed the question in an inclusion of the 2020 census, and democrats want you to believe this was fundamentally appropriate and court vindicated their position. But in fact the Supreme Court held the Trump Administration had the authority to ask the question about citizenship on the census but took issue for the administrations process for doing so under administrative law. To ensure our government is accountable and responsible to the people, not aid and ambitions. I hope today we can Start Playing partisan games, get back to the fund