[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 14 (Thursday, February 10, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E217]
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, February 10, 2005

  Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Speaker, today, I, along with Representative 
William Lacy Clay (D-MO), introduce legislation 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.
  Two years ago, the Census Bureau decided to break with tradition by 
releasing 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, D.C. 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 General Accounting 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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