Mr. President, yesterday, this body unanimously adopted the Helms amendment (amendment #1658) to H.R. 2084, the Department of Transportation and Related Agencies Appropriations Act. The Helms amendment expresses the sense of the Senate that the United States Census Bureau should include marital status on the short form census questionnaire to be distributed to the majority of American households for the 2000 decennial census. The marital status question currently appears only on the long form which will be distributed to one out of every six households, rather than to all households as the short form is distributed.
I agree with the importance of collecting information about marital status, and I know that by using modern statistical methods and the information obtained from the question on the long form, we will know how many Americans are married. Although I supported the amendment, I would like to offer some explanation about the amendment, on behalf of the Census Bureau, about why the marital status question was moved to the long form rather than left on the short form. I would also like to respond to my colleague from North Carolina, who said that the U.S. Census Bureau “obviously no longer regards marriage as having any importance.” This attitude should not be ascribed to the actions of the Census Bureau. This was hardly a frivolous decision. Rather, an explanation can be found in the agency’s efforts to comply with Congressional mandates on the decennial census questionnaires.
Mr. President, in one of its many mandates imposed on the Census Bureau about conducting the 2000 census, Congress directed the agency to reduce the number of questions asked on decennial questionnaires. In response, the Census Bureau performed a review of each question on both the long form and the short form. From this review, the agency eliminated questions for which it found no statutory or legal requirement, including the marital status question. A major reason for excluding certain questions from the short form is that the short form must be processed immediately to provide timely information to States for redistricting purposes. In accordance, the questions not needed for redistricting purposes were eliminated from the short form and some were shifted to the long form. Some questions were eliminated altogether, for the sake of brevity. Marital status was determined as not necessary for State redistricting purposes, not because the Census Bureau regarded marriage as unimportant, and therefore was shifted to the long form.
Following the question review and elimination, the Census Bureau complied once again with long-standing Congressional mandate and provided the proposed questionnaire two years in advance of the decennial census. This submission was made on March 31, 1998, to the Governmental Affairs Committee and Majority Leader in the Senate, and the Subcommittee on the Census and Speaker in the other body. After this submission, the agency accepted and considered various concerns about the content of the form. The Census Bureau reports that no comments regarding content of the marital category were received. The Census Bureau then finalized the questionnaire content.
Mr. President, at present, 246 million of the 462 million forms for the 2000 decennial census have been printed. Redesigning and reprinting this quantity of questionnaires would be extremely costly and lead to deleterious delays. We are already within seven months of the questionnaire mail-out date. In addition, the FY 2000 Commerce-Justice-State Appropriations Bill that funds the Census Bureau has not yet passed, and the version of the bill produced by this body does not provide the full $4.6 billion request–our figure is $1.7 billion short. Therefore, even if the forms were reprinted, the Census Bureau would not have adequate funds to mail the forms.
Mr. President, the Census Bureau needs much more support than we are giving it if we expect a fair and accurate 2000 census. I feel that amendment #1658 provides us with a perfect opportunity to call on conferees on the Commerce-Justice-State Appropriations Bill to provide full funding for the 2000 census. I appreciate the opportunity to speak on this matter, and I yield back the balance of my time.
