[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 49 (Tuesday, April 28, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H2379-H2380]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
WARNINGS OF A FAILED DECENNIAL CENSUS
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Deal of Georgia). Under a previous order
of the House, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Miller) is recognized for
5 minutes.
Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Los Angeles Times
ran a story about a census in California. But the story had nothing to
do with the Census 2000 dress rehearsal going on now in Sacramento. It
concerned a census conducted by the Los Angeles County Department of
Public Works, a census that counts bats. That is right, bats. On May
17, a team of biologists and a couple of dozen volunteers will try to
count every bat living underneath three wooden bridges in Topanga
Canyon in California. Let me quote from the article:
Census takers, who range in age from 7 to 70, will each be
assigned a section of a bridge. With a Tally Wacker in hand,
a clicker used to count quickly with the thumb, they will
attempt to count the bats as they emerge from their roosts at
dusk. Participants will ``have to be in place, sitting very
quietly before dusk, so they don't disturb the bats,'' says
biologist Rosi Dagit. Dagit says bats are very sensitive to
noise and won't fly if they suspect they are being watched by
humans.
The article concludes: ``Census takers will have to be fast.''
Mr. Speaker, as chairman of the Subcommittee on the Census, I am
tempted here to start making jokes about the batty census the Clinton
Administration wants to conduct in the year 2000 using statistical
sampling, but I will refrain. I will just say that if we can put that
much effort into actually counting bats, I think it is a good
[[Page H2380]]
lighthearted example to show that let us just count all Americans when
we do the census in the year 2000.
Mr. Speaker, let me talk about a more serious subject, and that is
the continued stonewalling by the Clinton Administration regarding the
2000 census. The latest example is the Census Monitoring Board. Last
year Congress and the Administration agreed to appoint a new oversight
board. The agreement was for four congressional appointments and four
White House appointments.
Speaker Gingrich and Majority Leader Lott made their appointments in
February. But the board members have not been able to hire staff and
start oversight because the White House took its own sweet time in
making appointments. In fact, I had to send a letter on Friday to get
the White House to finally follow through with the appointments last
night. I would like to submit my letter for the Record.
The text of the letter is as follows:
Congress of the United States, House of Representatives,
Committee on Government Reform and Oversight,
Washington, DC, April 24, 1998.
Hon. William J. Clinton,
President of the United States, The White House, Washington,
DC.
Dear Mr. President: I am writing to express my extreme
disappointment with the apparent lack of serious interest
your Administration is displaying towards the oversight of
the 2000 Census.
You are required pursuant to Sec. 210 of Public Law 105-
119, the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State
Appropriations Act of 1998, to appoint four members to the
Census Monitoring Board to observe and monitor all aspects of
the preparation and implementation of the 2000 decennial
census. These appointments were due to be made within 60 days
of the enactment of P.L. 105-119, which you signed into law
on November 26, 1997.
On April 6, 1998, The White House Office of the Press
Secretary released a two-page document which stated: ``The
President today appointed Tony Coehlo, Dr. Everett M.
Ehrlich, Gilbert F. Casellas, and Lorraine Green as members
of the U.S. Census Monitoring Board.'' I have attached a copy
of this announcement for your reference. The news of the
appointment of these individuals was subsequently widely
reported by a substantial number of news organizations.
Several times after this April 6th announcement, including
as recently as today, my staff and counsels have reported to
me that in numerous telephone conversations, both the Office
of the Executive Clerk and the Office of Presidential
Personnel have denied to them that you have officially
appointed either these or any other individuals to the Census
Monitoring Board. Congressional Census Monitoring Board Co-
Chairman J. Kenneth Blackwell has also been told that no
appointments have been made, frustrating his efforts to
convene a meeting of the Board to begin their work. These
statements are in direct contradiction to your earlier
announcement.
You can understand my frustration at this startling turn of
events. It is completely irresponsible for the Administration
to further delay the first meeting of the Board, since you
are undoubtedly aware that the Board must first meet and
approve its ground rules before oversight activities can
begin and professional staff can be hired. Thus, every day
you delay in making your appointments, you effectively
stonewall independent oversight and review of the 2000
census.
The mixed and conflicting messages from your Administration
on the Board appointments create the appearance of an attempt
to delay or prevent oversight of the controversial Census
2000 plan. The Commerce Department Inspector General and the
General Accounting Office have repeatedly warned us that the
decennial census is at high risk for failure. The critical
Census Dress Rehearsal began on April 18th, yet the Board is
unable to perform any oversight until your appointments have
been made. I would hope you agree with me that without this
intensive oversight by the Board, the American people cannot
have confidence that the demonstrations of the Bureau's
complicated and complex statistical methodologies have been
done in an open and fair environment.
The American people deserve a census that is honest and
reliable. This latest episode increases the risk of a failed
census in 2000, one which will cost taxpayers billions and
produce worthless results. I strongly urge you to immediately
rectify this situation by confirming your appointments to the
Census Monitoring Board and allowing them to get on with the
very serious work that await them.
Sincerely,
Dan Miller,
Chairman, Subcommittee on the Census.
P.S. I strongly urge you to also move quickly to nominate a
new Director of the Census Bureau.
After receiving the letter we heard last night that the President
finally made his appointments.
Mr. Speaker, I should not have to send letters to the White House to
get the President to comply with the law. The mere fact that the letter
had to be sent reflects poorly on the White House. The fact that the
dress rehearsal has already started before the President made his
appointments reflects poorly on the White House. Reports that the co-
chairman, Tony Coehlo, is planning on leaving the country before the
board has a chance to meet reflects poorly on the White House.
Fairly or unfairly, the cavalier attitude from the Clinton
Administration creates the appearance of an attempt to delay or prevent
oversight of the controversial 2000 census plan. The Commerce
Department's Inspector General and the General Accounting Office have
repeatedly warned us that the decennial census is at a high risk for
failure.
The critical census dress rehearsals began on April 18, yet the board
has been unable to perform any oversight. Without this intensive
oversight by the board, the American people cannot be confident that
the demonstrations of the Bureau's complicated and complex statistical
methodologies have been done in an open and fair environment.
Now we have strong signals that the stonewalling will continue. My
friend and respected colleague from New York, the ranking member of the
subcommittee, is suggesting hiring practices for the oversight board.
Despite the fact that the law says that, ``the board may appoint and
fix the pay of such additional personnel as the executive director for
each of the two parts of the group considers appropriate,'' there is
now a suggestion that both sides have to approve the hiring of each
other's persons. That is just outrageous. I do not tell the minority
what staff to hire and they do not tell the majority what staff to
hire. To propose that is just outrageous.
Unfortunately, the helpful suggestions of the minority do not stop
there. They go on to demand that employees of the board be forbidden to
do any work unless both sides approve, that the expenditure of any
funds by the board be forbidden unless both sides approve, crippling
their ability to do even simple things like traveling and cutting
monthly paychecks. And, most shockingly of all, they demand that board
members and employees forfeit their constitutional right to free speech
while in the employment of the board.
Mr. Coehlo certainly does not need the advice of congressional
Democrats on how to stonewall oversight, so my Democratic colleagues
should not be concerned with trying to interfere with the oversight
board's activities and dictate their rules.
Once again this strikes me more as an attempt to delay oversight.
Rather than getting down to serious oversight, the Democrats now want
to fight about hiring a staff and play games with the rules. That of
course will take time, time that we do not have because the White House
took so long to appoint its board members. I understand the game that
is being played, and frankly it is sad.
The American people deserve a census that is honest and reliable.
This ongoing saga of the delay at the oversight board increases the
risk of a failed census in 2000, a census which will cost taxpayers
billions and produce worthless results. I strongly urge the President
to take the warnings of a failed census seriously and direct his
administration to start cooperating and listening to Congress.
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