[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 152 (Tuesday, November 2, 1999)]
[House]
[Pages H11250-H11255]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
EXPRESSING SUPPORT OF CONGRESS FOR INCREASING PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN
DECENNIAL CENSUS
Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and
agree to the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 193) expressing the
support of Congress for activities to increase public participation in
the decennial census.
The Clerk read as follows:
H. Con. Res. 193
Whereas the decennial census is required by article I,
section 2, clause 3 of the Constitution of the United States;
Whereas, in order to achieve a successful decennial census,
the joint efforts of Federal, State, and local government,
and of other institutions, groups, organizations, and
individuals will be needed;
Whereas the Bureau of the Census has implemented a
partnership program through which a comprehensive outreach,
education, and motivation campaign is being carried out to
encourage all segments of the population to participate in
the upcoming census; and
Whereas it is fitting and proper that Congress seek to
promote the efforts of the Bureau of the Census, and of the
other aforementioned institutions, organizations, groups, and
individuals to achieve a successful decennial census: Now,
therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate
concurring), That the Congress--
(1) recognizes the importance of achieving a successful
decennial census;
(2) encourages State and local governments, community
leaders, and all other parties involved in this joint
undertaking to continue to work to ensure a successful
census;
(3) reaffirms the spirit of cooperation that exists between
Congress and the Bureau of the Census with respect to
achieving a successful census; and
(4) asserts this public partnership between Congress and
the Bureau of the Census to promote the decennial census.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Florida (Mr. Miller) and the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Maloney)
each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Miller).
(Mr. MILLER of Florida asked and was given permission to revise and
extend his remarks.)
Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
General Leave
Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all
Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend
their remarks on H. Con. Res. 193.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Florida?
There was no objection.
Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I think it is very appropriate
that we take up this legislation immediately following the legislation
on civility. This has been a very controversial issue for the past
several years, and today we have an issue that with respect to the
census is something that we on both sides of the aisle, I think, will
agree on.
Specifically, this important bipartisan effort of Congress and the
Census Bureau is to join together in a partnership to promote the
census. In just under 6 months, the Census Bureau will undertake the
largest peacetime mobilization effort in this Nation's history,
conducting the 2000 decennial census. This massive undertaking deserves
our support at the local level.
The key to ensuring a successful census that counts everyone in
America is outreach and promotion in every neighborhood. Broad-based
participation in the census must start from within our communities. The
Census Bureau must make and use every effort possible to promote
participation in the census.
Just last week, the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Maloney), the
ranking member of the subcommittee, and I attended the kick-off
ceremony for the 2000 Census advertising campaign. The gentlewoman from
New York (Mrs. Maloney) and I are hopeful that this first ever
advertising campaign will help to reverse the trend of decreasing mail
response rates.
Another important tool to be used by the Census Bureau is the
partnership program. Without strong and effective partnerships at the
local level, we cannot have a successful census. The fanciest ad
campaigns or sophisticated computer programs will all fail if people at
the local level do not become involved in the census.
The Census Bureau is in the process of forming these important
partnerships with thousands of groups, organizations, and individuals
from all sectors of the population, both large and small, ranging from
Goodwill industries to local places of worship. It is very appropriate
that Congress join with these groups across the Nation by partnering
with the Census Bureau.
These partnership programs are designed to utilize resources and
knowledge of the local partners. And who knows better the local area
and problems the Bureau may face than the Members of the House who work
tirelessly for their 435 districts across the Nation?
Moreover, the Members of this House who work tirelessly for their
districts all have a vested interest in seeing that their communities
get the most accurate count possible. We know what it will take to have
a successful census in our districts. It just makes sense for Congress
to promote the census.
After all, the decennial census distributes billions of dollars in
Federal funds. Data users from demographers to city planners, from
businesses to universities, will use census data to determine their
communities' needs.
We, as representatives, owe it to our constituents to make sure that
they receive the services they need. The best way to do this is through
promoting participation in our districts. This is not a Republican
issue or a Democratic issue. An accurate census is in everyone's best
interest.
More often than not, Mr. Speaker, when I have come to the floor, I
have raised serious concerns about the upcoming census. The Census
Bureau is going to spend near $4.5 billion in this fiscal year for the
2000 Census. This effort will require very vigorous oversight by the
Subcommittee on the Census. The subcommittee still has some concerns
about the Bureau's plan and, of course, this issue of the use of
estimation remains unresolved, ultimately to be decided by the courts.
However, Mr. Speaker, there are Census Bureau programs that every
Member of this body can feel comfortable embracing, and the
Congressional Partnership is one of those programs. My staff and the
staff of the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Maloney) have been working
very hard to make this membership between the Bureau and the House of
Representatives a success.
Director Prewitt held briefings for Members and explained the
partnership program and answered questions. I believe the Bureau has
put together a
[[Page H11251]]
comprehensive set of activities that Members can easily take back to
their district to increase public participation.
House Concurrent Resolution 193 is a resolution that affirms a
partnership between the Census Bureau and the House of Representatives.
House Concurrent Resolution 193 recognizes the importance of achieving
a successful census, encourages groups to continue to work towards a
successful census, reaffirms our spirit of cooperation with the Census
Bureau, and asserts a public partnership between Congress and the
Bureau of the Census.
{time} 1415
While we may have had our differences in the past, the gentlewoman
from New York (Mrs. Maloney) and I have joined forces to introduce this
legislation that merits broad based bipartisan support. The decennial
census is a cornerstone of our democracy and it is vital that all
Members of Congress, Republicans and Democrats alike, publicly support
activities to enhance public participation.
I would like to thank the gentlewoman from New York and her staff for
their hard work in support of this effort. I would also like to thank
the cosponsors. I encourage everyone to vote for House Concurrent
Resolution 193.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mrs. MALONEY of New York. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I
may consume.
I likewise would like to thank the gentleman from Florida (Mr.
Miller) for working in such a bipartisan manner on this resolution. We
have had our differences in the past over the best way to conduct the
census, but I think we both agree that now is the time to put those
differences behind us and to get about conducting the most accurate
census we can, the massive operation of the 2000 census.
On a personal note, I must say that regardless of our differences, it
was never personal, you have always been a gentleman and I have enjoyed
tremendously working with you.
I am very happy to join the gentleman from Florida in sponsoring
House Resolution 193, a resolution which reaffirms the spirit of
cooperation between the Census Bureau and Congress and establishes a
public partnership between us. This partnership is vital, because
though the Bureau is doing an excellent job in preparing for the 2000
census, it truly is a huge undertaking which deserves all the support
we can give it. Just to give Members an idea of the scale of the 2000
census, it will be the largest peacetime mobilization ever conducted by
our country. It will count approximately 275 million people in 120
million housing units across our Nation. In order to carry out this
massive operation, the Census Bureau will have to process 1.5 million
pieces of paper and it will have to do this in a very short time. To
conduct the 2000 census, the Bureau will have to fill more than 860,000
temporary positions. This is more people than are currently in the
United States Army.
In a very real sense, the 2000 census has already begun. The forms
are being printed as we speak and transported around the Nation. The
media time for the $160 million advertising campaign is being bought
even as we are right here speaking. During the time when the public
will be filling out their census forms and mailing them back, February
through mid March, the buy on public television and on television in
general will be the third largest in the Nation, preceded only by
McDonald's and Burger King. It will be in 17 different languages in
order to increase awareness and participation in the census 2000. The
Bureau plans to open 520 local census offices. One hundred thirty of
those are already open. The remaining 390 are leased and will be open
on a flow basis through the beginning of next year.
Every Member of Congress needs to do all they can to encourage this
partnership with the 2000 census. I urge Members to appoint a census
liaison person in their district offices to keep them up to date on
local census events. Their offices will be getting a great number of
calls and inquiries once the media begins to hit the public. I urge
Members to use their newsletters to increase awareness of the census,
to produce public service announcements for local cable and network
television, to participate in the openings of the local census offices
in their districts and participate in other local census events. These
are just a few of many ideas on how to promote the census in your
districts and to increase a more accurate count.
One program that the Bureau has developed for the census, which is my
personal favorite, is the Census in the Schools program. Recently, Rudy
Crew, who is the Chancellor of the New York City school system,
attended a Census in the Schools program with me in my district, and he
pledged to make it a priority in every classroom throughout New York
City. More than 50 percent of all those not counted in 1990 were young
people, were children. The Census in the Schools project aims to help
children learn what a census is and why it is important to them that
their families and the community at large participate. The program also
aims to increase participation in census 2000 by engaging not only the
children but their parents so that they can fill out census forms. It
will also help recruit teachers and parents to work as census takers.
Mr. Speaker, State, local and tribal governments as well as
businesses and nonprofit organizations have become partners with the
Census Bureau in an effort to make the 2000 census the best that we
have ever had. The constitutionally mandated census we take every 10
years is one of the most important civic rituals our Nation has. It
determines the distribution of political and economic power in our
country for a decade. Over $189 billion per year in Federal funds, that
is over $2 trillion over 10 years, will be distributed based on census
distribution formulas that will build roads, assist day care centers,
senior centers, public education, public transportation and many, many
of the services that come into our districts and into our local
communities. It is an important civic ceremony in which every resident
should participate. I urge every Member to actively participate in
making it a success.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the
gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Ryan), a member of the subcommittee.
Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the
chairman of the committee for yielding time.
I just want to say it is a pleasure to serve on this committee with
my fellow members, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Davis), the
gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Maloney), the gentleman from Florida
(Mr. Miller) and the others as well. We do disagree on methodology from
time to time on this issue but clearly in this realm we do not
disagree, we all stand united for passage of this resolution and here
is why. We as Members of Congress are in a very unique position to
promote the census. As the prior speakers had mentioned, the census is
an extraordinarily important civic demonstration which has so much
consequences in each of our districts, not just on whether or not we
are accurately counted for or not but on Federal funding formulas, on
redistribution of certain formulas that go back to our districts. We do
not want to live with inaccurate data for 10 years. But we can make a
difference in our districts. That is why I ask all of my colleagues to
get involved in this.
In my district, we have a key person in our district office working
on a census plan. I am traveling the district with another Democratic
Member of the Congress the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Barrett) later
on this year to do a bipartisan promotion of the decennial census.
Here are some of the examples that any Member of Congress can do to
promote the census in their area:
As mentioned before, we can use our congressional newsletters or
websites to increase awareness of the upcoming census and what it means
to our communities. We can conduct or participate in town hall meetings
that emphasize participation in the census. We can support local
Complete Count Communities and other community-based partnerships,
something that I am very much involved in back home. We can produce and
air public service announcements that can be used for local TV, radio
and print media outlining uses of census data, confidentiality
[[Page H11252]]
guarantees and employment opportunities. We can conduct walking tours
and census awareness day activities in hard-to-count communities. We
can visit local census offices and training sites to show support for
local workers and emphasize the importance of the work they will do for
their communities. We can form alliances with local and tribal
governments and businesses to promote the importance of the work they
will do for their communities. Participate in Census in the Schools
forums to encourage local educators and administrators to use the
Census in the Schools materials and raise awareness in the schools. We
can participate in the grand opening of local census offices. Encourage
local businesses to promote the 2000 census and sponsor census
activities.
I know that is a mouthful, but it is very convenient, as the Census
Bureau has given to each of our offices this handy little kit. It is
called the Congressional Partnership Toolkit. This is available in
every Member's office. I am sure my colleagues can get additional
copies of this. It has very easy to use, digestible forms that we can
use to put together plans in our own congressional districts to promote
the census. The point is, we have a responsibility as Members of
Congress to promote the census on behalf of our own constituents so
that we are counted for fully in our congressional districts. There is
a plan and there is a way to do this. It is a wonderful opportunity for
those of us to get to know other people in our congressional districts,
to get government officials working together, to get communities
working together. This census is a wonderful civic demonstration.
I encourage every Member of Congress, take a look at this
Congressional Partnership Toolkit, made available for us from the
Census Bureau, take a look at it, get your offices involved in it, work
with other Members of Congress in your delegation across the aisle.
This is something that we can work to improve so that everyone is
counted for in the next census. It is a wonderful celebration of
democracy that we have to take very seriously here. I encourage all of
my colleagues to take this issue very, very seriously.
I would like to thank the gentlewoman from New York and the gentleman
from Florida for their leadership on this issue.
Mrs. MALONEY of New York. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the
gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Davis), the distinguished member of the
Subcommittee on Census. For the past 2 years he has worked selflessly,
consistently and with great dedication on any and every census issue. I
thank the gentleman for his leadership. We all in this body on both
sides appreciate all of his hard work.
Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this
opportunity to first of all commend and congratulate the gentleman from
Florida (Mr. Miller) and the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Maloney)
for not only the legislative work that they have done in terms of
trying to make sure that we have adequate resources for the census but
also for the tremendous individual work that they have done to try and
make sure that we have a fair, accurate and complete count of all the
people in the United States of America. And so I commend and
congratulate both of them.
Mr. Speaker, as a member of the Subcommittee on Census, I am pleased
today to rise in support of this resolution urging a public and private
partnership of the participation in the decennial census. As census day
rapidly approaches, it is important for communities to work with the
Census Bureau and urge people to participate.
There are several things we can do across the country, no matter
where we are, no matter where we live, no matter where we come from to
urge participation in the 2000 census. Among these many things include
forming a complete count committee, a cross-section of community
representatives working to design and implement a localized census 2000
outreach and promotion program. In the Seventh Congressional District
of Illinois, I have formed such a committee. They are busy working to
ensure full participation. I want to thank Reverend Johnny Miller and
Reverend C.L. Sparks for taking the leadership in this effort. We have
the Census in the Schools program under way. I want to thank
Superintendent Paul Vallas and all of the schools not only in Chicago
but throughout my district in the suburban communities of Oak Park,
Maywood, Bellwood and Broadview as well.
In addition, we can encourage local businesses, organizations,
churches, sororities and fraternities to get involved by providing
information through their businesses, calendars, newsletters and church
bulletins. An accurate census could ensure fair representation in
Federal, State and local governments. An accurate census could mean an
extra senior citizen facility or a school.
Thus, I urge communities to form a partnership with the Census Bureau
and let us work together to ensure full participation in the 2000
census. I am pleased to support this resolution. Again, I commend the
gentleman from Florida and the gentlewoman from New York. I also want
to commend the chairman of the Hispanic Caucus on the Census, the
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Gonzalez), and the chairman of the Black
Caucus Committee on Census for the outstanding work both of these
caucuses have done and are doing throughout their communities in
America to try and make sure that we get a fair, complete, honest
count. Because if you are not counted, then you do not count.
Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the
gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Souder), another member of the
subcommittee.
(Mr. SOUDER asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks.)
{time} 1430
Mr. SOUDER. Mr. Speaker, first I will join with those praising our
chairman, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Miller), who stuck with this
through good times and tough times, as well as the ranking Democrat on
the committee, the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Maloney), because it
has really been a struggle at times, and then, as has been pointed out
here, there are things we agree on.
Whatever the court in the end rules on I believe is guessing, and I
believe they will rule to uphold the Constitution, but every Member of
this body, Republican or Democrat, has a stake in making sure that this
count is as complete as possible within our districts, because if the
court rules, as I think they will, that you cannot guess and you have
to have a real count, everybody needs to make sure that their count is
actual and does not miss the hard-to-reach population. If it is going
to be estimated, the estimates will come off of a real count, because
ultimately that is how estimating is done as well.
So it is important that every Member get directly involved in every
aspect of this. My office has, unfortunately, been involved on a couple
of points early on that shows the difficulty of doing the census and
why every Member should be paying attention.
Fort Wayne, Indiana, has undergone an aggressive annexation program,
unlike many other cities. The Census Department still does not have the
right maps in the hands of our counters. In fact, their recent estimate
of population, I forget the actual number, is around 30,000 off. Now,
30,000 may not be a big number to Chicago or Los Angeles, but it is a
huge number to Fort Wayne, Indiana; and it is inconceivable to me at
this late date we are still having trouble with the maps. It has been
important for our office to stay involved to back up our local census
workers who are very concerned about the lack of accurate maps.
I have also been involved, and we had a great visit with the regional
administrators from Chicago who came into Fort Wayne and met with
Reverend Humphries and our local citizen group, because we have another
problem. Who is going to go door to door? Where are the workers going
to come from? What type of people are they going to be?
The two places they are doing the interviews are, in fact, suburban.
The undercounted populations are generally minority, hard-to-reach
populations, sometimes homeless, sometimes illegal immigrants who also
get counted in the census and are important to each one of our
districts.
You need to have people in the community organizations who live in
that community who can go and reach them and get them to cooperate with
the
[[Page H11253]]
census, because in fact the mail-out will have a decent response, but,
ultimately, particularly in the hard-to-count areas, the door-to-door
response and the community organization response is critical. To do
that, you need people from within that community.
As a Member of Congress, you know, me going door to door in the urban
center of Fort Wayne, I might have some success. But I will tell you
what, there is going to be a lot more success if it is an African-
American locally based group or Hispanic group or whatever group is in
a given area going door to door in these programs, and the Census
Bureau needs to take that into account; and you need to help hold them
accountable that they are working to where they can get, because
sometimes it is hard to recruit and hard to make those people
comfortable in coming to work for the Government. If you only do your
interviews for employees out in the suburbs, that is who you are going
to get.
So hopefully as Members of Congress, not only do the schools and
census show up at your local Census Bureau to try to support those
workers there, to encourage them in what is a very difficult job,
because many people in fact fear that this census is far more intrusive
than it is. It takes 5 to 10 minutes, unless you have a long form,
which is a whole different ball game and not what we are doing here.
The short form is only 5 to 10 minutes, but it scares people off.
Unless you get involved in supporting and encouraging these people,
they are going to get demoralized. If they get sloppy, it is each
Member of Congress and the people who live in their districts that
lose, because our districts will be undercounted; and we have a stake
not only for the representation, for the potential as it relates
indirectly to grants and other prestige things regarding the size of
your cities, but it also relates to the total accumulation in your
State in how many Congressmen you have representing you.
For example, there are a number of States right on the bubble that
could lose a Congressman if they have an undercount. In other words,
you could lose part of your right to vote in your State merely because
you did not participate in the census and because your Member of
Congress did not help with the count.
We each have a deep stake in this, our communities have a stake in
this, the churches do, the people in our districts do; and I encourage
each Member to do what they can to get a fair, accurate, and complete
count.
Mrs. MALONEY of New York. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I
may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Souder) for his
comments. The gentleman rightly pointed out that participating in the
census is merely 10 minutes at most every 10 years, so every resident
in our country should, at the very least, give 10 minutes every 10
years to be part of this important civic ceremony of the census 2000.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Florida (Mrs.
Meek), the distinguished leader of the Census Task Force for the Black
Caucus, who earlier this year hosted, along with the gentleman from
Florida (Mr. Miller), a hearing in Florida on the census. The
gentlewoman has been a consistent and strong voice of support for the
Census Bureau and the census, and I thank the gentlewoman for her
leadership.
Mrs. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise in very strong support of
this resolution that has been brought to the floor by the gentlewoman
from New York (Mrs. Maloney) and the gentleman from Florida (Mr.
Miller), with whom I have worked from the very beginning on the census.
Each of them has worked assiduously throughout this time to be sure
that we get to the place we are now. They are telling us now that they
have worked very hard, that Congress has stepped forward, and now the
ball is in our court, that is, each one of us as Members have our job
to do.
This resolution expresses the support of Congress for activities to
increase public participation in our census. That is very important.
All this I think is good and it is very fine, but both Members here who
introduced this resolution have helped me all along in trying to get a
bill passed here in the Congress, a real census bill in addition to the
resolution which we are going to pass today. So this real census bill
which they have tried to get passed and to get brought to the floor
presents a very real and meaningful impact on lowering the undercount
of all people, and that is the bill that was called H.R. 683, the
Decennial Census Improvement Act.
What it does, it says we have taken the message that these two strong
people, the chairman and the ranking member, are bringing to us today
in a resolution proposing that we hire welfare recipients and that we
hire indigenous people who live in these neighborhoods so that they can
help us come up with a good count. Passage of this bill will
substantially increase the available core of community-based census
enumerators. When members of the communities work as enumerators, we
maximize the chance that everyone will be counted.
Let us keep up the good work of this resolution, Mr. Chairman, and
even go farther and try our very best to get H.R. 683 passed as well. I
again want to thank the ranking member and the chairman.
Mrs. MALONEY of New York. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Gonzalez), the Chair of the Census Task Force
in the Hispanic Caucus, a new Member, a freshman from the great State
of Texas. Already the gentleman has brought new leadership and
enthusiasm, a tremendous amount of dedication, and long hours really in
reaching out to the Latino community, which is one of the largest
undercounted communities in America.
We know that 8.4 million people were missed and that 4.4 million were
counted twice, and that a large number of those were children and
minorities. On behalf of the subcommittee I want to thank the gentleman
for all he has done. He has always been there, and he has brought great
leadership to this issue.
Mr. GONZALEZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of this
resolution, and again I wish to follow everybody else and commend the
chairman and the ranking member of the subcommittee on their fine work
and the many hours they have placed into this particular project, which
really is of great importance to every American and to everyone on both
sides of the aisle.
I think we can all agree, and the speakers before me have pointed
out, we have reached a point where we know we need to agree on the task
at hand, and that is education, awareness, and participation.
What do I mean by that? We all know that this outreach campaign will
underscore benefits of the census participation. We are going to
explain to everyone that they have a vested interest in responding to
this census. The outreach campaign is the largest ever aimed at
increasing participation in the national census. It includes partners
from nearly 30,000 community groups, civic organizations, labor unions,
the Congress, Federal agencies and corporations, as well as elected
officials at the State, local and tribal governmental levels.
What does it mean to me personally? I do not want to occasion the
same mistakes that we had back in 1990 that resulted in undercount in
my State of Texas of 500,000 residents, 250,000 of which were Hispanic.
I do not want that same mistake repeated. I do not want history to be
repeated in my district, where we missed 39,000 residents, 16,000 of
which were children, enough to fill 29 schools and to hire 1,000
teachers.
They did not exist for the purpose of the census, but we still had to
teach them; we still had to house them; we still had to feed them. They
participated in every program at the State, local and, of course,
national level; but, for all intents and purposes, they did not exist,
and we cannot afford for that to happen again.
Every Member in this House knows their district better than anyone
else, so it is a unique challenge. But it is also a unique opportunity
to do our fair share, our responsibility, and make this the most
accurate census in the history of our Nation.
Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, we as representatives bring a unique ability to the
census to
[[Page H11254]]
help make it the most accurate possible. There are 435 of us and each
of us represents a little different area. Several that have spoken
today each have their own individual problems.
My district in Florida, Sarasota, and Bradenton, in Florida, have
large numbers of retirees. A lot of them are just what we call ``snow
birds'' that come down temporarily from northern States. They live in
mobile home parks, they live in high-rise condos, and they create a
problem of how do we count them.
We have, because of agriculture, a certain number of immigrant
migrant workers that are hard to count. The gentleman from Texas (Mr.
Gonzalez) is close to the Mexican border. He has a very difficult
challenge to have people counted.
The district of the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Maloney) is
actually, surprisingly, Manhattan, a very affluent area, but, again, a
very difficult area to count. Because of the high-rise co-ops that are
there, it makes it hard to get in to count people.
But the fact is we all can contribute something. The district of the
gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Ryan) has a lot of rural areas. There is
a high mail response rate out of Wisconsin. However, because of the
rural nature, it makes it difficult. We had a hearing out in Arizona
where we were out on an Indian reservation, again, one of the most
undercounted parts of our population, and very difficult to count these
huge rural areas where it is hard to find people.
But the thing is we know our areas. We have a vested interest, as the
other speakers have said, to make sure we get the best count possible.
The Census Bureau has come up through this notebook, as the gentleman
from Wisconsin (Mr. Ryan) pointed out, ideas of how we can help prepare
our communities and provide that support. There is an action list, and
it is on my Web site on my particular home page in the computer; and
let me make a couple of comments of some of the items we can do to help
contribute to a better count.
First of all, we have a Complete Count Committee. Make sure they are
organized in your communities. In Sarasota Thursday night last week
they had a hearing where Chairman Shannon Staub of the County
Commission and County Commissioner Ray Pilon with members of the Census
Bureau were there discussing getting ready for the count for next March
and April. Work with these groups.
Encourage your local businesses and local governments to get
involved. Do things like put something in the newsletters for their
employees, or if they are sending out newsletters, to their customers.
In my county, hopefully the utility people will put in their bills a
statement to remind people in March to get involved in the census.
There are a number of ways you can promote it. Put posters up in your
places of work where customers will see it. Reach out to the groups
that are hard to count. For example, I am going to try to reach out to
the migrant community where we have a lot of migrant workers in our
area, whether it is going out and walking through the neighborhoods and
bringing attention, getting news coverage of it, making people aware of
the census, but also making people aware of the confidentiality of the
information.
This is one of the greatest challenges we have, is to make people
aware that it is a Federal crime to disclose information on the census.
As a Member of Congress, we all get to have classified information
available to us. But when we go to the Census Bureau, I have to go and
raise my hand and sign a pledge, an oath, to not disclose that
information. It is confidential for 72 years, and the Secret Service,
the IRS, the INS, they do not have access to that information for 72
years. So each office should get involved, because, I guarantee you,
there is going to be a need for information on the census.
{time} 1445
When this ad campaign cranks up soon, we are going to start getting
calls: How do we get jobs? I do not like this question. I never got my
form.
The more Members know about it, the better off this office is going
to be. Do things in the difficult-to-count areas. They are the ones we
need to concentrate on and to make sure people are aware of it.
In addition to being aware of it, we need to have action. That is the
reason the Census Bureau uses a theme, ``It is your future. Don't leave
it blank.'' You have to be aware of the Census, but you have to fill
out the form. That is the reason you have to have the action to
complete, and get the form completed and sent in.
There are a lot of things we can do: writing op eds for the local
newspaper, whether it is the column in the weekly paper or a special
editorial the Members will put in. Do some public service announcements
on the television or radio stations. They will be glad to run them,
especially as it gets close to the April 1 deadline.
We all agree we have to get the most accurate possible Census. We as
Members of Congress have that special role where we can have the
credibility and give some support to get that job done.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mrs. MALONEY of New York. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I
may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his comments. I want to
understore what the gentleman said about the Congressional Partnership
Toolkit. Every single congressional office has a copy of this booklet
that has all kinds of projects and ways that we can increase awareness
and participation in our home districts.
Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to yield 3 minutes to the gentleman
from Tennessee (Mr. Ford), another member of our Subcommittee on Census
who has joined us. We thank him for his leadership and hard work.
Mr. FORD. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Florida (Mr.
Miller) and the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Maloney). I say to the
gentleman from Florida, we have had our disagreements on the committee,
but it is certainly great to see us come together on this day and
support this resolution.
Today many States and cities are holding elections around the Nation.
We see people exercising their civic duty and responsibility. The
Census, as we all know, represents another opportunity for Americans
from everywhere in this great Nation to exercise another important
civic duty.
A few months back Dr. Prewitt, who deserves some praise and adulation
as well, the head of the U.S. Census, was in my district, as I am sure
he has been in many districts around the country. He talked about the
Census from three aspects: the fact that it builds resources,
representation and recognition.
Resources have been touched on. Some $2 trillion over the next 10
years will be allocated based on the formulas determined by the Census
numbers; representation, because political power is divided among the
congressional districts and within areas based on the Census numbers;
and finally, recognition, because as we all know, our Nation is made up
of a patchwork of people from different backgrounds, different
religious, racial, and gender backgrounds.
It is estimated in 1990, 8 million people were missed nationally, as
the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Maloney) has touched upon. Some
86,000 were in my State of Tennessee, and 18,000 are right near
Memphis, the district which I represent.
Of the folks missed, 10,000 of those were children in my district,
enough to fill 17 schools and employ 350 additional teachers. In
addition, Tennesseeans, particularly those in the Ninth District, lost
out in our fair share of Head Start dollars, on school lunch and
educational technology funds, and even businesspeople, researchers, and
economists in our district, were deprived of accurate data as they
attempted to create or to plan for technological advances to create new
jobs and economic growth.
In Memphis we have established a Complete Count Committee made up of
community, business, and civic leaders, following the guide of the
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Miller) and certainly our ranking member,
the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Maloney) in trying to ensure that
we have participation from all aspects of the community.
One of the great challenges we will have in the coming weeks and
months is for Members of Congress and those in the community to do all
that we can to
[[Page H11255]]
raise awareness. I certainly am committed, Mr. Chairman, and the
gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Maloney), and I hope all our colleagues
will do the same. We must work to ensure that every citizen
participates in this very important civic exercise, not only to be
counted but to be recognized, and to ensure that everyone on April 1,
2000, is counted.
I cannot say enough how much I appreciate the leadership of the
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Miller), and certainly that of the
gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Maloney). She has given me some ideas,
and I am sure she has given my colleagues throughout this body ideas on
how we might move forward and ensure all are counted on that very
important day.
Mrs. MALONEY of New York. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my
time.
Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, one thing we all agree on is that we want to have the
most accurate count responsible. This is a constitutional
responsibility. Article 1 of our Constitution requires us to do this
every 10 years.
Since Thomas Jefferson did the first Census in 1790, we have had some
problems with it. We recognize there is a problem of a differential
undercount. That is wrong. We want the best count possible.
One way that each of us, all 435 of us, can help make that possible
is to participate in our local communities, which we know best how to
help promote the Census, how to help get people to believe that the
Census is confidential, and to complete those forms.
Now is the time to prepare for the Census time next March. I
encourage all Members to get involved, and I encourage my colleagues to
support this legislation.
Mr. REYES. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this important
resolution.
I would like to begin by recognizing the hard work of my colleagues,
Chairman Dan Miller and Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney. They have worked
tirelessly on this issue, and I applaud their efforts on this extremely
important issue.
H. Con. Res. 193 expresses the support of Congress for activities to
increase public participation in the decennial census. As we all know,
in order to achieve a successful decennial census, the joint efforts of
Federal, State, and local government and other interested parties and
grassroots organizations must come together as partners.
The Bureau of the Census has implemented a partnership program
through which a comprehensive outreach, education, and motivation
campaign is being carried out to encourage all segments of the
population to participate in the upcoming census. As I have said many
times, Texas has a lot at stake in the current debate over the year
2000 Census. The County of El Paso has a lot to lose if the 2000 Census
is conducted the way the 1990 Census was conducted.
In 1900, the census used a traditional head count and made about 26
million mistakes. It missed over 8 million people completely, double-
counted over 4 million and put 13 million in the wrong places. And most
of the undercount involved children, people of color and the urban and
rural poor.
The Census Bureau estimates that in Texas, the net undercount of
residents in 1990 was over 486,000 individuals. The net undercount rate
in Texas was .028, which represented the second most undercounted state
in the nation. They were either out of town, tossed the form with the
junk mail, did not trust the government, feared immigration or bill
collection officials, lived in a neighborhood the census workers did
not feel like checking.
Whatever the reason, too many individuals were missed. Included in
this are over 279,000 Caucasians, 83,300 blacks, 247,000 individuals of
Hispanic origin, 8,500 Asian and Pacific Islanders and, over 1,875
American Indians. In addition, over 228,300 children were missed in
Texas. Over 25,000 individuals were missed in El Paso alone, enough to
fill half of the Sun Bowl. We were the 17th most undercounted district
in the nation.
The failure of the 1990 Census to accurately count the population in
El Paso County seriously shortchanged the Federal funding that cities
within my district should have received during the past decade. In
effect, cities like El Paso, Anthony and Socorro were required to
utilize funds for schools, roads, health facilities, housing, and other
important services for people that were not counted by the census.
The number of children missed in the 16th Congressional district
would fill 22 schools staffed by 770 teachers. According to the Council
of Great City Schools, every child not counted by the census means that
some $650 in federal resources is lost each year by the school that
must educate that child. This equals over $8 million lost in my
Congressional district alone!
We are not alone. The 1990 Census did the same thing nationwide. Two
million of those missed in 1990 were children under the age of 18--half
the net undercount although they were only about a quarter of the U.S.
population in 1990. The 1990 Census affected minorities the most: 4.4
percent of blacks were missed, 5 percent of Hispanics, 12.2 percent of
at least one tribe of Native Americans. This differential racial
undercount must be addressed by the 2000 Census.
This resolution is sending the right message at the right time--that
public participation is necessary to ensure that everyone is counted,
especially children, people of color and the urban and rural poor.
Anything less is unacceptable.
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, to cope with the year 2000
census, the Census Bureau has implemented a partnership program through
which a comprehensive outreach, education and motivation campaign is
being carried out to encourage all segments of the population to
participate in the upcoming count.
This resolution expresses the support of Congress for activities to
increase public participation in the decennial census; recognizes the
importance of achieving a successful decennial census; encourages state
and local governments, community leaders, and all other parties
involved in this joint undertaking to continue to work to ensure a
successful census; and reaffirms the spirit of cooperation that exists
between Congress and the Census Bureau with respect to achieving a
successful census.
Hundreds of thousands of census takers and support personnel will be
needed to account for the anticipated 118 million housing units and 275
million people across the United States. But it isn't its size that
makes Census 2000 important. It is all the things that we will learn
about ourselves that will help America succeed in the next millennium.
The census is as important to our nation as highways and telephone
lines. Federal dollars supporting schools, employment services, housing
assistance, highway construction, hospital services programs for the
elderly and more are distributed based on census figures.
How do we know who we are as a country? We only take one big portrait
of this country--that is the decennial Census. And if you're not in it,
you will be unrecognized. More than $200 billion in federal funds is
distributed to the states based on census figures, as well as political
apportionment in the House of Representatives.
Census 2000 will help decision-makers understand which neighborhoods
need schools and which ones need greater services for the elderly. But
they won't be able to tell what your community needs if you and your
neighbors don't fill out your census forms and mail them back.
The message is a simple one, Mr. Speaker; ``This is your future.
Don't leave it blank.'' I encourage my colleagues and all Americans to
help the Census Bureau in making this snapshot of America's population
clearer. If we are not counted, then we are invisible and our
communities will lose its fair share of federal funding and political
apportionment--we can all help our community and our nation by filling
out the census questionnaire, returning it and being counted.
Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my
time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Shimkus). The question is on the motion
offered by the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Miller) that the House
suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution, H. Con. Res.
193.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor
thereof), the rules were suspended and the concurrent resolution was
agreed to.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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