[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 100 (Thursday, July 23, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H6190]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              2000 CENSUS

  (Mr. BARTLETT of Maryland asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BARTLETT of Maryland. Madam Speaker, today on the House floor we 
plan to debate the Commerce, State and Justice appropriations bill. 
Funding for the constitutionally mandated census in the year 2000 is an 
issue that the American people will soon be hearing a lot more about.
  First let me remind my Democratic colleagues of a provision in the 
U.S. Constitution that they routinely ignore in their discussions of 
the census. Because I know that Democrats are not in the habit of 
carrying around the Constitution with them, I will make their life 
easier by quoting Article I, Section 2 from the document to which you 
swore an oath:

       The actual enumeration shall be made within 3 years after 
     the first meeting of the Congress of the United States, and 
     within every subsequent term of 10 years, in such manner as 
     they shall by law direct.

  Now, despite the liberal Democrat habit of finding things in the 
Constitution, there is no getting around the words that are there for 
all to see. ``Actual enumeration'' no matter how you slice it means 
exactly what it says. Congress shall by law direct an actual count, not 
an approximate guess, poll or sample. Period.

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