[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 108 (Tuesday, August 4, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H7006]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
YEAR 2000 CENSUS
(Mr. PASCRELL asked and was given permission to address the House for
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
Mr. PASCRELL. Mr. Speaker, the 1990 Census was the first in history
to be less accurate than its predecessor. It missed millions of
Americans, predominantly children and minorities.
Virtually every expert agrees that the way to get the most accurate
census possible is by using modern scientific methods to supplement the
traditional head count.
The Census Bureau's plan will not only produce the most accurate
census, it will save literally hundreds of millions of dollars. Using
the methods employed in 1990 will cost close to a billion more dollars
and still miss millions of Americans. We cannot let this happen.
Funding the Census Bureau for only 6 months will cripple its ability
to adequately plan and prepare for the largest peacetime mobilization
undertaken by the U.S. Government. We must take the guessing out of the
census.
For these reasons, we must today support the Mollohan amendment which
strikes the provisions that restrict funding to the Census Bureau as
they prepare for the 2000 census.
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