[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 78 (Tuesday, June 16, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H4573-H4574]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              DEFENDING THE INTEGRITY OF THE CENSUS BUREAU

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 21, 1997, the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Maloney) is 
recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mrs. MALONEY of New York. Mr. Speaker, I applaud my colleague from 
the other side of the aisle, the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Wolf), 
for his very important statement. He is absolutely correct.
  Today I rise to defend the integrity of the Census Bureau. 
Repeatedly, in an argument over a fair and accurate census, the 
opponents of accuracy have suggested that they would support the use of 
modern technology if they could be assured that the process would not 
be manipulated for political purposes.
  Perhaps Jim Hubbard, the representative of the American Legion said 
it best at last week's meeting of the Secretary's Census 2000 Advisory 
Committee. He said that the only way that the census numbers could be 
manipulated

[[Page H4574]]

would be if the professionals in the Census Bureau did it. He went on 
to say that he did not believe that that was possible.
  Mr. Hubbard is absolutely right, and the opponents of an accurate 
census should be ashamed of themselves for attacking the Census Bureau 
like that. Never in the almost 100 years of the Census Bureau has there 
been a breach in the integrity of that organization.
  Just after Pearl Harbor, the President of the United States asked the 
Census Bureau for a list of the names and addresses of Japanese living 
in America. The Census Bureau refused. During the 1970s, President 
Nixon did not like the fact that the rate of poverty was increasing 
during his administration, and put pressure on the Census Bureau to 
change the numbers. The Census Bureau refused.
  The reputation of the Census Bureau is unassailable, and the 
opponents of an accurate census do themselves and the country a 
disservice to suggest otherwise.
  Today, the Atlanta Journal tries to make this case once again. They 
admit that scientific methods will make the census more accurate. They 
acknowledge that if the count shows a population shift that favors one 
party or the other, it should stand. But then they claim that only the 
most optimistic could believe that the numbers would not be manipulated 
by the politicians.

                              {time}  1300

  On that, they are dead wrong. Anyone who has any knowledge of how a 
census works, and how the plans for 2000 work, know that the only ones 
who could manipulate the numbers are the professionals in the field or 
in the headquarters of the Census Bureau. There is not now, and there 
has never been, any evidence to suggest that those professionals would 
abandon their professional scientific judgment.
  As my Members are all aware, I am sure, my colleagues and I have been 
destroying, sacrificing the American forests, my colleague, the 
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Miller) and I have, in defense of our 
positions on the census. He is fond of circulating editorials attacking 
the census and I have sent out literally dozens in suppport of a fair 
and accurate census.
  Mr. Speaker, I hope that today the gentleman resists the temptation 
to use the Atlanta Journal editorial for a partisan battle, but rather 
joins me in defense of the professionals at the Census Bureau. The 
Atlanta Journal suggests that only the ``blissful optimistic'' could 
believe that the census process is protected from political 
manipulation by the professionals at the Census Bureau. I hope that the 
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Miller) will join me in telling the Atlanta 
Journal that the professionals at the Census Bureau are our best hope 
of a census that is free of politics and as accurate as possible, 
regardless of how our battle turns out.

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