President Donald Trump spoke out strongly Monday in favor of a contentious citizenship question that his commerce secretary added to the 2020 census, asserting that the survey would be "meaningless" without the addition.
In a morning tweet, Trump blamed "Radical Democrats" for trying to remove what he termed "the all important Citizenship Question" that has been derided by advocates for immigrants.
"Report would be meaningless and a waste of the $Billions (ridiculous) that it costs to put together!" Trump said in his tweet.
Two federal judges have already ruled against the question. The Supreme Court is set to hold a hearing on it April 23 and is expected to rule on it by June, shortly before the survey forms are due to go to the printer.
At a Monday news conference, Census Bureau director Steven Dillingham declined to discuss the president's tweet about the question.
Opponents have characterized the question as a political maneuver by the Trump administration. They say its inclusion, particularly at a time when noncitizens feel targeted by the government, will deter many immigrants and their family members from participating, reducing the count's accuracy and harming people who live in areas with large immigrant populations.
Census data are used to allocate hundreds of billions of dollars in federal funding and to determine apportionment and redistricting.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has maintained that the information is important for several reasons, including enforcement of the Voting Rights Act, and that he carefully considered the advantages and disadvantages of adding the question before making his decision.
Ross was grilled during a House hearing last month on his rationale for adding the question, which was generally defended by Republicans.
Democrats pointed to congressional hearings last spring at which Ross testified that his move to add the question came solely in response to a December 2017 request from the Justice Department.
Trump's tweet drew criticism Monday from Democrats, including Rep. Adam Schiff of California.
"Doing what the Constitution requires and counting every person is not 'meaningless' and it is surely not a 'waste,' " he wrote in a tweet directed at Trump. "Including a citizenship question will only suppress participation and, inevitably, result in inaccurate data. But, of course, that's exactly why you want to do it."
And on Friday, the chairman of the House oversight panel threatened to subpoena testimony and documents related to the addition of the citizenship question.
Rep. Elijah Cummings, the panel's Democratic chairman, said officials at the Commerce Department withheld key documents about the decision despite repeated follow-up requests. In a letter to Ross, Cummings said the committee "is seeking to understand the real reason that you added a citizenship question to the 2020 census."
Cummings wrote that he will give the department until Monday to agree to provide the documents sought without redactions and to provide witnesses for transcribed interviews.
The committee today will also consider authorizing Cummings to issue a subpoena to former White House personnel security director Carl Kline to testify about the security clearance process.
Information for this article was contributed by Robert Barnes of The Washington Post and by staff members of The Associated Press.
A Section on 04/02/2019