[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 2398]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                            THE 2000 CENSUS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Linder). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Miller) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I want to first commend the 
President for proposing his tax relief package for permanent relief for 
the American people. Everybody who pays taxes gets tax relief. They 
have lowered the lowest rate, from 15 percent to 10 percent. That is 
going to help real working people in America.
  But, Mr. Speaker, I am here to talk about the Census, because I feel 
it is important to place in the record some facts regarding the 2000 
Census that some of us may have forgotten over the last several days as 
my colleagues on the other side try to tear down the Census head count 
in order to build it up with a statistical adjustment.
  What seems to be forgotten is how good the 2000 Census really was. 
The Census Bureau announced that compared to the last Census, the 
undercount of African Americans may have been cut in half. The 
undercount of Hispanics also was cut by more than half. The undercount 
of American Indians was reduced by more than two-thirds, and the 
elderly and children have never been counted so well.
  The preceding Congress appropriated an unprecedented $6.5 billion for 
the Census effort. Let us take a moment to see what the American people 
received for their tax dollars.
  This 2000 Census reversed a three-decade drop in the questionnaire 
mail back response rate.
  The 2000 Census reached more Americans, including those living in the 
hardest to count communities, than ever before.
  The 2000 Census established a first-time-ever paid advertising 
campaign that focused on educating the American people on the 
importance of the Census participation.
  The 2000 Census included more than 140,000 local, State and national 
partnerships to promote Census awareness and participation. The 2000 
Census included a Census in the Schools program, that reached out to 
millions of students and parents nationwide to promote Census awareness 
and participation.
  And for the first time, with the 2000 Census, Americans were able to 
file their Census forms electronically using the Internet.
  There are Members of this body who are quick to focus on the limited 
number of people that chose not to participate in this Census. But I 
will point out for the record that Census 2000 found and counted nearly 
99 percent of the population, more than any other Census.
  This Census dramatically reduced the traditional undercount of 
children, the poor, and members of minority communities.
  Regardless of what side of the adjustment debate a person falls, this 
Census was one of the best in our Nation's history. Opponents of a real 
head count said it could not be done. They said we could not improve 
upon past Censuses. They said that the undercount would most certainly 
grow larger. They said we must sample and adjust people because they 
will not answer the call.
  But we said no. We must do everything we can to get an actual head 
count. Get out there and advertise, educate, involve local officials, 
spread the word, make it easier for people to be counted. An actual 
enumeration is what the Constitution calls for. It is what the Supreme 
Court called for, and it is what public law calls for.
  And now we can and should stand proud and say, it worked. An 
unprecedented 99 percent of our population was counted. All the efforts 
to get an accurate head count paid off.
  Mr. Speaker, I call on my colleagues to congratulate the hard efforts 
of those career civil servants in the Bureau who worked long and 
difficult hours.
  I call upon my colleagues to remember and congratulate the thousands 
of State and local volunteers and countless others in each and every 
one of our districts who partnered with the Bureau to make the head 
count such a success.
  While the news regarding the Census has been good, the political 
rhetoric surrounding the Census threatens to taint the entire effort.
  For months now, relentless pressure has been placed on President Bush 
and Secretary Evans to use the controversial adjustment plan known as 
sampling to recreate people that may not have been counted.
  My position on adjustment has not changed. Adjustment is a Pandora's 
box, filled with unintended consequences, legal uncertainty and 
inaccuracy. Some would have us to believe that this decision is simply 
about statistics. Load the numbers into the computer, hit enter, and 
that is your answer. Adjust or do not adjust.
  These people could not be further from the truth. The adjustment 
decision has far-reaching legal, political and social consequences. 
Adjustment simply has too many risks and unintended consequences to be 
justified for any Census, and particularly because we have such a great 
Census taking these risks even seems more unjustified. Instead, we 
should all be thrilled with the incredible inroads made with the 
differential undercount. Significant reductions occurred in the 
undercount rates for African Americans, Hispanics and American Indians.
  The 2000 Census head count is one we all can and should be proud of.

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