Rep. Maloney Statement on Republican Census Press Event: “It’s like an episode of Seinfeld: It’s about nothing.”

WASHINGTON—Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) issued this statement in response to House Republicans’ census press event this morning:

"House
Republicans borrowed a page from Seinfeld today: they made a show about
nothing. Even though the White House issued a statement saying that
they were NOT proposing removing the Census from the Department of
Commerce or directing the Census from the White House, today House
Republicans had a press event to decry what ISN’T happening. And when
questioned with that fact during the event, the Republicans effectively
said ‘So what? We still want to investigate it.’ ”

The AP’s White House spokesman Benjamin LaBolt quote:
"This administration has not proposed removing the census from the Department of Commerce and the same congressional committees that had oversight during the previous administration will retain that authority."

“At today’s event the House Republicans went on about how there were political machinations going on. But the only true political machinations have been over the past eight years: the Bush Administration’s woefully inadequate planning and preparation for the next census, which may result in a failed count unless action is taken in the weeks ahead. A failed census is the ultimate political machination: it means lower income and minority citizens would be more likely to be missed, and affluent citizens would be more likely to be counted twice,” Rep. Maloney said.

Background: Mrs. Maloney's bill to create an independent agency for the Census in the last Congress was HR 7069, “Restoring the Integrity of American Statistics Act of 2008.” It had zero Republican cosponsors. Maloney plans to reintroduce her bill in the 111th Congress in the next few days.

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