Washington, D.C. -Today, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, the Chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, announced that Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross will be testifying before the Oversight Committee on March 14, 2019:
“After several weeks of discussions, Secretary Wilbur Ross has now agreed to testify before the Oversight Committee voluntarily and without a subpoena. Committee Members expect Secretary Ross to provide complete and truthful answers to a wide range of questions, including questions regarding the ongoing preparations for the census, the addition of a citizenship question, and other topics. The Committee also expects full compliance with all of our outstanding document requests prior to the hearing."
Chairman Cummings and other Members have written to Secretary Ross repeatedly requesting documents-including on April 4, 2018, June 28, 2018, and Aug. 3, 2018-but the Department has withheld a wide range of the requested documents for months.
Last week, a federal judge ruled that Secretary Ross committed “egregious" violations of federal law by creating a “sham" process for adding the citizenship question despite the fact that the Census Bureau “repeatedly and consistently recommended against" adding the question because it would harm the accuracy of the count.
The court also found that Secretary Ross-who fought successfully against testifying in the litigation-actively concealed the true basis for his actions from the American people and the Census Bureau itself.
