[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 521 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 521

 Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives with respect to 
    the importance of having a census that is complete and accurate.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              June 9, 2009

  Mr. Dent (for himself, Ms. Ros-Lehtinen, Mr. Burton of Indiana, Ms. 
   Norton, Ms. Clarke, Mr. Cao, Mr. Ruppersberger, Mrs. Maloney, Mr. 
Chaffetz, Mr. Gerlach, Mr. Moran of Virginia, Mr. Sestak, Mr. Skelton, 
 Mr. Pierluisi, Mr. McHenry, Mr. Westmoreland, Mr. Ehlers, Mr. Petri, 
Mr. Meeks of New York, Mr. Gonzalez, Mr. Thompson of Pennsylvania, Mr. 
    Honda, Mr. Serrano, and Mr. Kanjorski) submitted the following 
   resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and 
                           Government Reform

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives with respect to 
    the importance of having a census that is complete and accurate.

Whereas the decennial census is a responsibility of the Federal Government, 
        mandated by article I, section 2 of the Constitution;
Whereas the enumeration of the population of the United States, as determined by 
        the decennial census, is used to calculate the representation of each 
        State in the House of Representatives;
Whereas a State's total representation in Congress, which is equal to its number 
        of Senators plus the number of seats apportioned to it in the House of 
        Representatives, determines the number of electoral votes afforded to 
        that State in Presidential elections;
Whereas the census has been taken every 10 years since 1790, when it was first 
        taken under President George Washington and Secretary of State Thomas 
        Jefferson and was carried out by the marshals of the United States 
        judicial districts;
Whereas the Census Act of 1840 first established a central, national Census 
        Office during years of enumeration and specified that inquiries be made 
        to include ``the pursuits, industry, education, and resources of the 
        country'';
Whereas the census subsequently became a source of data on a number of issues of 
        national importance, such as school attendance, educational attainment, 
        and employment;
Whereas in 1902, the formerly temporary Census Office was reorganized into a 
        permanent Bureau of the Census and has since evolved into the Nation's 
        central organ for generating, compiling, and making available 
        statistical demographic information;
Whereas data generated by the Bureau of the Census are used by agencies of the 
        Federal Government to allocate funding and to forecast need for a wide 
        range of programs, including Medicare, Social Security, assistance to 
        farmers, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, road and highway 
        construction, community development grants, Federal housing assistance, 
        veterans' health services, and others;
Whereas these data are also used by private businesses to make sensible 
        decisions concerning where and how to expand their activities;
Whereas areas are ultimately underserved by the Federal Government when 
        significant portions of the population, especially those in low-income 
        and minority neighborhoods, fail to participate in the census;
Whereas full participation in the census is necessary to ensure an accurate 
        depiction of our Nation's population; and
Whereas April 1, 2010, is the date for the 2010 decennial census of population: 
        Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) recognizes the importance and significance of the 
        census, and encourages full participation in this critical 
        process; and
            (2) urges State, local, county, and tribal governmental 
        entities to promote awareness of the census and to actively 
        encourage their constituents to make every effort to be 
        counted.
                                 <all>