[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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