[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 103 (Thursday, July 22, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1508]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               INTRODUCTION OF POVERTY STATS LEGISLATION

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                        HON. CAROLYN B. MALONEY

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 22, 2004

  Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Speaker, today I introduce legislation with 
Representative William Lacy Clay, D-MO, that requires the annual 
poverty estimate and the National Assessment of Educational Progress to 
be subject to certain guidelines on the release of the information to 
the public. I am deeply concerned at what appears to be the 
politicization of data by the Bush Administration on important issues 
ranging from worker safety to the dangers of lead paint to emergency 
contraceptives. Because data regarding poverty and educational progress 
are essential to lawmakers at all levels of government to implement 
policies addressing these issues, it is critical that this information 
is disseminated in an open and timely process.
  Last year, the Census Bureau decided to break with tradition to 
release its annual poverty estimates on a Friday in Suitland, Maryland, 
rather than during the middle of the week at the National Press Club in 
Washington, DC. Because that report was expected to announce the loss 
of millions of jobs, the questionable circumstances regarding the 
release of those statistics led myself and Representative Clay to seek 
an investigation by the Government Accountability Office, GAO, as to 
why the Census Bureau made its decision. We should not be playing 
politics with science, which is why I believe this legislation is so 
important.

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