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Pennsylvania House of Representatives
11/17/2024 04:34 PM
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/Legis/CSM/showMemoPublic.cfm?SPick=20170&chamber=H&cosponId=25725
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House of Representatives
Session of 2017 - 2018 Regular Session

MEMORANDUM

Posted: April 20, 2018 04:15 PM
From: Representative Angel Cruz
To: All House members
Subject: Resolution Urging the Trump Administration to Not Include a Citizenship Question to the 2020 Decennial Census
 
In the near future, I plan to introduce a resolution urging the Trump Administration to not include a Citizenship Question to the 2020 decennial Census.

The United States Constitution requires the federal government to accurately record our country’s population every ten years. In fact, the decennial enumeration of the population is one of the most critical constitutional functions our federal government performs. Population data from the Census is used to apportion Congressional seats and Electoral College votes, draw state and local legislative districts, and allocate billions of dollars in federal funding.

The Census is not perfect, especially in accounting for immigrant and minority populations. These populations have historically been some of the hardest to count accurately in the decennial census, with the 2010 Census failing to count more than 1.5 million. If a citizenship question is included in the 2020 Census, undercounting of citizens and noncitizens alike in immigrant and minority communities will increase.

The resulting undercount due to a citizenship question will not only fatally undermine the accuracy of the 2020 Census, but will jeopardize critical federal funding needed by states for Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (known as SNAP or food stamps), and highway planning and construction grants. Additionally, states with growing or large immigrant or minority populations will have their fair representation in Congress and the Electoral College directly threatened.

The citizenship question is so detrimental to our democracy that Pennsylvania joined a coalition of 17 other Attorneys General, six cities and the bipartisan U.S. Conference of Mayors in filing a lawsuit to block the Trump Administration from demanding this information as part of the 2020 Census.

Please join me in being a voice for a population that is already undercounted and targeted.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact my Harrisburg office at 717-705-1925.



Introduced as HR942


Memo Updated: April 20, 2018 04:18 PM