[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 52 (Thursday, April 15, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E685]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                     LOCAL CENSUS QUALITY CHECK ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                        HON. SHEILA JACKSON-LEE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, April 14, 1999

  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition to 
H.R. 472, the Local Census Quality Check Act of 1999. Although this 
bill purports to increase the involvement of local governments in the 
census, it really acts to slow down and delay an accurate count. 
Because the Census is a significant civil rights issue, the Census for 
2000 must be accurate to ensure equal representation of all Americans.
  The methodology of H.R. 472 repeats the process that was used in 
1990--the same process that resulted in an undercount of the 
population. The 1990 Census missed 8.4 million people, 4.4 million 
people were counted twice and 13 million people were counted in the 
wrong place.
  Although there were various reasons for the undercount in 1990, a 
disproportionate number of children, people of color and the rural and 
urban poor were most likely to have been missed. Thus, each of these 
groups was denied an equal voice in our government.
  Census undercounts translate into communities losing out on federal 
and state funding for schools, crime prevention, health care and 
transportation. Because of the undercount in 1990, Texas lost almost 
$1.87 billion in federal funds. A recent article in The Houston 
Chronicle estimated that Texas could lose $2.8 billion if a similar 
undercount takes place.
  In my district in Houston, close to 500,000 people were missed. It is 
estimated that 28,554 children in my district were missed. Almost five 
percent of all African-Americans and Hispanics were not counted in 
1990, and these groups constitute almost half of the population of the 
city!
  As Chair of the Congressional Children's Caucus, the undercount of 
children is particularly troubling to me. Over 50 percent of all 
American children were missed in the census count in 1990. This 
undercount affects all of the programs that benefit our children--
education, health care, housing, childcare, nutrition and 
immunizations.
  H.R. 472 in its present form will delay the census by an additional 
nine weeks. If we want to improve our methods, then we cannot micro-
manage the count after the census is complete, nor should we further 
delay the results by waiting for 39,000 local governments to review the 
count.
  The Census Bureau has already developed a plan that provides for 
review as the count occurs instead of after the fact. After the Census 
of 1990, the Bureau determined that the Post Census Local Review 
program was inefficient. Therefore, it has already designed a better 
series of programs and procedures that will promote local government 
participation in a timely and fair way.
  In addition to the traditional headcount, the Bureau will conduct an 
in-depth survey of 300,000 households to measure how many people were 
missed. This survey, called the Accuracy and Coverage Evaluation or 
ACE, is more efficient and it is a better use of resources. It would 
cover about 85% of all housing units in the country, and twice as many 
local governments will be included than in 1990.
  The Administration has expressed its negative views on H.R. 472. The 
Census Bureau has stated that this bill will compromise their efforts 
to conduct an accurate count. The Department of Commerce does not 
support this bill and recommended that the President veto it if it 
passes. The President has indicated that he will follow the advice of 
the Department of Commerce and veto this bill.
  Instead of supporting H.R. 472, I ask that you support the Maloney 
amendment, offered by Representative Carolyn Maloney, which gives local 
governments the ability to remain within the plans developed by the 
Census Bureau. The Maloney amendment in the form of a substitute allows 
the Census Bureau to design programs to address local government 
concerns while not causing a delay in the count.
  I urge my colleagues to vote against H.R. 472 and support the Maloney 
amendment. We owe it to the millions of people who were not counted. 
H.R. 472 will cause an unnecessary delay in the census. The Post Census 
Local Review method advocated in this bill did not prevent an 
undercount in 1990, and we must not make the same mistake for the year 
2000.