Whether there is a citizenship question or not is the least of my concerns about the upcoming U.S. Census.
My worry about this core, vital government function started in May 2017. But since citizenship is the "squabble of the day," I will briefly deal with that first.
The president and his supporters want the census questionnaire to ask whether people are citizens or not. The U.S. Supreme Court threw out the question. The president and many of his supporters are loudly unhappy.
Folks, the court threw the question off because the administration itself botched the job of adding it. Whether the citizenship question should be asked was not what bothered the court. Neither was the effect the question would have on the accuracy of the census.
The bottom line for the court in rejecting the citizenship question was solely the fact the administration did not bother to follow the Administrative Procedure Act when adding the question. The act is the baseline rule book for changing a government policy. Is the act complicated? Yes. Following a government procedure usually is. Could any minimally competent administration have followed it? Also yes.
Therefore, the citizenship question would be on the forms now if U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross was minimally competent.
The president wants the citizenship question in part to help his party in drawing census-based congressional district boundaries. Well, GOP, there is a simpler, easier way to help your standing in Congress. Nominate someone for president next time who will not cost your party 40 House seats in his first midterm election.
Now, on to deeper census concerns. Census Bureau director John H. Thompson announced in May 2017 that he was leaving on June 30 of that year. He did, departing six months before his term was up. He was finally replaced six months ago, on Jan. 7. During the long interval, the bureau made do with another of the many acting directors this administration seems to prefer.
Thompson left about three months after the administration got its 2018 budget request approved for the Census Bureau: $1.5 billion. That is flatly what the budget was for 2008. So, the bureau overseeing a core, vital government function has no budget increase at all from what it had to operate in the run-up to the 2010 census. This compares to the average increase every 10 years, dating back to 1790, of 60 percent.
Disregarding the usual partisan noise, independent observers wondered aloud at the time if the bureau was getting the money it needed.
As for Thompson's eventual replacement, new director Steven Dillingham appears to be an excellent choice. My only problem with him is: He just got here. Dillingham is set to appear before the House Oversight and Reform Committee on July 24 to give a status report and answer questions. The distraction of the citizenship question will almost certainly take up much of the time that should go to asking about whether his bureau is ready for the census or not.
Oh, by the way, the census is going to a new internet-based system. Testing of the new tech was never fully funded. There was an excellent article about this by Chris Hamby in the New York Times on July 3.
"Security test of some IT [information technology] systems that were originally supposed to take up to eight weeks had to be completed in about one week," the federal General Accounting Office found, Hamby wrote. The "dress rehearsal" test of the new system was cut back from three communities to one. That one place was not a largely rural area like most of Arkansas. The test also took place in a town with good wireless internet.
Australia tried a similar system in 2016. Hackers shut it down, though only temporarily.
As recently as May 31, the General Accounting Office reported: "With less than one year until Census Day, many risks remain." Of particular concern is whether census info, which is supposed to be kept secure even from other government agencies, is vulnerable to being hacked, the GAO reports.
I am torn writing about this. On one hand, I do not want to undermine confidence in the census. People should respond fully and frankly to it. On the other hand, these problems are important. The risks are real.
The administration's botched the citizenship question by failing to follow the routine procedures act. I cannot help but wonder what else it is failing at.
Commentary on 07/13/2019