House Oversight and Reform Committee Chair Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.) revealed the document this month, claiming it was a presentation for Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, who oversees the bureau. It shows that the decision of Senate Republicans and the Trump administration to give the bureau no more time to finish a count that started late and ...
Senate Republicans failed to do so, and the Trump administration ordered last month that door-knocking conclude by Sept. 30, weeks earlier than the experts had hoped.
The Senate should have passed a covid-19 relief bill months ago, with a census deadline extension in it. With the bureau up against a wall, senators should not wait to agree on the rest of a relief package to give the counters more time. The census needs clarity, now.
has encountered pandemic-related problems threatens to corrupt for a decade the process of distributing congressional seats and doling out some $1.5 trillion in annual federal aid.
To be clear, this would not be the fault of the bureau’s professionals, whom Republicans have put in an impossible position. They are facing a statutory deadline requiring that they deliver their count by Dec. 31. The bureau had previously asked for more time. House Democrats authorized a deadline extension.