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“THE ADMINISTRATION'S REFUSAL TO ADJUST 2000 CENSUS DATA” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Commerce was published in the Senate section on pages S2115 on March 9, 2001.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
THE ADMINISTRATION'S REFUSAL TO ADJUST 2000 CENSUS DATA
Mr. AKAKA. Mr. President, I rise today to express my disappointment over the decision announced this week by Commerce Secretary Donald Evans to release raw census data without adjustment for the undercount of an estimated three million Americans.
By law, the Census Bureau is required to provide census figures to the States for the purpose of redistricting by April 1, 2001; a deadline that is nearly four weeks away. Only last week, I joined with 47 of my Senate colleagues in a letter to Secretary Evans urging him to delay a decision to release the 2000 census figures until after the Commerce Department's self-imposed March 5, 2001, deadline to allow the appropriate Senate Committees an opportunity to hold hearings. My intent in signing the letter was not to delay the statutory deadline, but rather to request that there be Congressional input.
I was interested that the President, in his first budget proposal, said, ``our Nation has a long and honorable commitment to assisting individuals, families, and communities who have not fully shared in America's prosperity.'' I believe this is true, which is why failing to count all Americans has serious consequences for State, local, and Federal Government.
There are approximately 1,327 Federal domestic assistance programs that use population data in some way. The breadth of the programs affected that touch families and businesses throughout the nation clearly spells out the need to ensure that all Americans are counted. Federal and State funds for schools, employment services, housing assistance, road construction, day care facilities, hospitals, emergency services, programs for seniors, and much more are distributed based on census figures. The use of raw census data, without adjustment for the differential undercount, will result in the unfair distribution of Federal funds.
A March 1, 2001 memorandum to Secretary Evans from the acting director of the Census Bureau recommended using unadjusted census data for redistricting purposes. According to the memo, ``The primary reason for arriving at this conclusion is the apparent inconsistency in population growth over the decade as estimated by the Accuracy and Coverage Evaluation, ACE, and demographic analysis. These differences cannot be resolved in the time available for the Committee's work.'' In other words, the Executive Steering Committee for ACE Policy ran out of time and could not determine whether the uncorrected data is more accurate than corrected data.
As a member of the Committee on Governmental Affairs, I provide legislative support and oversight over the decennial census and the Census Bureau. Moreover, as a Senator from Hawaii, I knew that the percentage of people undercounted in my state during the 1990 Census, 1.9 percent, was higher than the national average. The largest component of my state's undercount by race was projected to be Asians and Pacific Islanders. I was so concerned that Hawaii would once again have a higher than average undercount that, last March, I held a forum in Hawaii on issues facing Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders related to the 2000 Census. I urged Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders to participate in the 2000 Census in order to ensure accurate data and statistics especially since this information directly impacts our lives for the next ten years.
I call upon the Secretary to make available to the public the detailed information that the Census Bureau has compiled to date, including over-counts and undercounts. Again, I am disappointed with the Administration's decision in this matter.
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