Oversight Democrats Emphasize Need for Strong Support and Robust Funding Ahead of 2030 Decennial Census

Washington, D.C. (December 6, 2024)—Rep. Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Accountability, led Committee Democrats in examining the Census Bureau’s preparations for the 2030 Decennial Census while condemning Republican efforts to politicize the census to undermine its constitutional mandate to count every person and advance their political agenda.

“The Decennial Census must always remain a tool to nourish and improve our democracy by empowering Americans through equal representation and equal access to resources and opportunity,” said Ranking Member Raskin in his opening statement.  “The census must be an independent, non-political exercise conducted by statisticians and qualified professionals, not an arm of the political office of whichever administration happens to be in charge, and we must ensure that the census never becomes an authoritarian tool of fear and control…”

Committee Democrats highlighted the Census Bureau’s critical role in collecting data used in the fair and accurate distribution of representation and resources, and how to support and strengthen communities across the country.  

• Rep. Summer Lee, who has firsthand experience with the work of the Census as a former Census enumerator, described how census data informs policymakers and state and local governments delivery of critical services, explaining: “We’re talking about information that is used to determine where, and how, when we build roads or bridges, funding for schools that we see really need to be opened, and libraries, or deciding where to put fire departments or hospitals.  The census data is the starting point for so much.”  She added, “It’s staggering, isn’t it?  A single form filled out by millions shapes 353 programs to provide $2.8 trillion in federal funding for communities across America.” 
   
• Rep. Greg Casar emphasized the importance of obtaining an accurate and complete census count, particularly for states and localities, which receive federal funding based on this data.  Census Bureau Director Santos agreed with Rep. Casar that “if a state has a falsely low census count, that could result in those states getting fewer federal resources for things like food for the hungry, hospitals, education.”  Rep. Casar stressed the real- world consequences of undercounts, warning, “so a state like Texas, having had an undercount could result in fewer dollars coming to my state for people that pay their taxes and might need those dollars.” 
   
• Answering a question from Rep. Ayanna Pressley about the importance of including “accurate and detailed racial data” in the Census, Director Santos explained:  “By not accurately collecting that information, we are then at a loss to be able to help communities in all aspects of policymaking and service, whether it comes out to, you know, which routes to have for public transportation to the types of schooling and what languages would be provided at schools, at health centers.  Public health is a huge issue, public safety would be a huge issue.  Infrastructure.  All aspects of society.”
   
• When Republican Rep. Glenn Grothman questioned the utility of collecting race and ethnicity data on the census,  Director Santos explained that it “allows us to serve society better […] because it allows us to tailor programs, to tailor schooling, education, etc.”  Director Santos further explained that collecting this data helps everyone, stating, “communities can use that to better address their specific communities’ concerns.” 

Committee Democrats noted that the Census Bureau conducted an independent and fair count for the 2020 Decennial Census despite many challenges outside of the Bureau’s control, and politics played no role at any point in the process. 

• In response to a question from Ranking Member Raskin about the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the 2020 Census, Director Santos explained, “Society shut down.  We had to literally stop all field operations for several weeks and nimbly reconstitute our operational plan for the remaining time.  We had to find a million masks and other protective devices for our staff, instruct them and train them on how to do that.  In the meantime, people were consolidating households with elderly upstairs with COVID who were most possibly dying.”  Director Santos also explained the effect that wildfires and hurricanes had on the Census, saying they “exacerbated the impact of the pandemic,” a hurricane in Louisiana “wiped out housing units and communities,” “wildfires were rampant,” and “there were also floods and things of that sort.” 
   
• Pointing out the ridiculous nature of Republicans’ accusations of political bias at the Census Bureau, Rep. Gerry Connolly said, “I want to give you an opportunity to confirm or deny that you headed a cabal in the Census Bureau to ensure that there was a favorable disposition toward blue states and an unfavorable disposition with respect to enumeration and counting of persons in red states.”  Director Santos responded, “I wholly reject that claim.”   
   
• Director Santos explained that “miscounts occurred just as a matter of course of any Decennial Census. ...  There was no, absolutely no consideration of red, blue, purple, or whatever, we simply stuck to our mission to do a complete count.  We did our quality checks, and we published the data to the President.”

Committee Democrats detailed Republican efforts to politicize the Census Bureau and weaponize census data for political gain. 

• Rep. Shontel Brown stressed the importance of keeping the Census Bureau independent and free from political interference:  “Given the role the Census Bureau plays in collecting this data, which is the foundation of programs so many families rely on, it is critical this work is guided by data, statistics, and expert analysis.  It should not be fueled by politics.  We do not and must not prioritize recipients or anything else based on political ideology.  Yet, President-elect Trump’s playbook for his second term, Project 2025, includes a section specifically on the Census Bureau, which calls for it to ‘execute a conservative agenda.’  As we have heard here, this work is too important to be caught up in political games.  This Project 2025 proposal is dangerous and threatens to hurt families across Ohio and the country.  The Census Bureau must not be turned into an ideological and political arm of any agenda, and I am committing to ensuring that it does not.” 
   
• Rep. Melanie Stansbury highlighted the risk of President-elect Trump weaponizing the Census Bureau to help carry out a mass deportation program:  “So the arguments that we’re hearing here this morning, that immigrants should not be counted, is un-American.  It’s literally un-American.  It is really about sewing a narrative, a political narrative that is being propagated for political reasons.  We know that in the wake of this election, Donald Trump has promised that he wants to do a mass deportation scheme.  During his last presidency, he tried to force federal workers in the United States Census to add a question about citizenship that was not for the purposes of just good government and making sure that folks would, you know, be counted.  It was for the purpose that people could be identified and targeted should they actually carry out some of their more nefarious mass deportation schemes.  So I think it’s really important that people understand this is not good government arguments.” 
   
• Rep. Jasmine Crockett pointed out that Republicans in rural areas benefit from prison gerrymandering, and detailed how counting people where they are incarcerated during redistricting distorts our system of representative government:  “The numbers show that in rural Texas, they were constantly bleeding population.  Urban Texas was growing exponentially.  But what they do is, they count inmates where they are imprisoned instead of counting them where it is that they will return to … but somehow rural Texas is getting better roads than they probably deserve, because they’re counting those inmates that are not driving on those roads.  They’re counting those inmates that are not using their hospitals.  They’re counting those inmates whose children are not attending their schools because of prison gerrymandering.  So again, Republicans are really good about using Black and brown bodies because I can also tell you that the numbers are clear, that we have a Black and brown incarceration issue, not just in Texas, but in this country.”