Washington, D.C. - Below are Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney’s, the Chairwoman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, remarks, as prepared for delivery, at today’s press conference on the start of the 2020 Census:
Good morning. I’d like to thank our esteemed Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Chairman of the House Democratic Caucus Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, and the Chairs of the Tri-Caucus, Judy Chu of CAPAC, Joaquin Castro of CHC, and Karen Bass of CBC for organizing this important press conference.
As we all know, the Census is a cornerstone of our democracy. Census data determines representation in the House of Representatives and the allocation of over $1.5 trillion in federal funding for things like schools, hospitals, roads, bridges, and first responders.
The 2020 Census is already underway. In just 7 days, on March 12, families across the country will begin receiving official invitations to fill out their census forms.
As Chairwoman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, I am committed to doing everything I can to ensure a full, fair, and accurate census, continuing the legacy of my predecessor, Chairman Elijah Cummings.
The Oversight Committee has conducted rigorous oversight of the census.
We fought hard to stop the President from undermining the Census through an illegal citizenship question…and we won!
The Committee is also very focused on census readiness.
The Census Bureau has faced delays and missteps in recruiting, signing up partners, and developing critical technology for the nation’s first online census. The Bureau needs to correct these problems now to ensure a full and accurate count.
The Oversight Committee is especially concerned that certain communities may be undercounted in the 2020 Census. Black Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans have all been undercounted in previous censuses. That means these communities have missed out on representation in Washington and on crucial federal funding for healthcare, schools, job training, and other services.
Here is what the Oversight Committee has done already.
1. We’ve held four hearings on census readiness over the last year.
2. We’ve released a list of over 300,000 local Census Bureau partners organized by state and congressional district. You can find this on the committee’s website and on the census bureau’s website.
3. We are releasing toolkits to give members of congress step by step actions to engage their constituents and community partners.
4. One of the tools we are most excited about is a map created by the City University of New York, with detailed data on the communities who are most likely to be undercounted in the census. You can find that map at “census hard to count maps 2020 dot US"
5. The committee is also providing information on how a full and accurate count will affect funding for essential services like education and job training in congressional districts around the country.
The Census Bureau needs to ensure that every community is fully counted this year.
We have the tools to ensure the 2020 Census is successful. We just need to dig in and put them to use.
The future of our communities is ours to shape, and it all starts with a full fair and accurate census.
Thank you.
