Census Hearing Wrap Up: Oversight Republicans Commend Census Bureau, Voice Disappointment in Democrats Ignoring Election Integrity Issues

WASHINGTON—The House Committee on Oversight and Reform today held a hearing about ensuring the accuracy of the 2020 Census. This is the second census hearing in recent  months, and, like the previous hearing, no Census Bureau witnesses were invited to testify.

Democrats used this hearing, just like the last, as a platform to sow doubt in the results of the 2020 Census. Meanwhile, Republicans stuck with the facts: the 2020 Census is counting every resident in the U.S. regardless of citizenship status and 99.98 percent of households in the U.S. have already been counted with the remaining 0.02% will be resolved using long-standing statistical methods.

Republicans also voiced their concerns about Democrats ignoring election issues and choosing to not schedule a hearing on the matter.

In his opening statement, Ranking Member James Comer (R-Ky.) noted “Given that we’ve already held hearings on the 2020 Census and the Bureau is on track to a complete and accurate count, our time would be better spent getting to the bottom of whether the integrity of the 2020 election was compromised.

“During the 2020 election, we witnessed blanket mail-in balloting in several states and a dramatic rise in absentee ballots in others, leading to errors and irregularities. For example, I sent a letter to the Election Assistance Commission IG asking them to investigate why the California secretary of state  used $35m of taxpayer money to pay Joe Biden’s main election campaign advisory firm to conduct voter contact. I’d like to know why taxpayer money was used in such a questionable manner, but unfortunately, the IG has yet to take any action.”

Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry testified that counting illegal immigrants takes resources away from minorities. He said, “Those states such as California that embrace sanctuary city policies and basically attract illegal immigrants to those cities are then unevenly weighted. So, then those citizens in other states are disenfranchised when we re-apportion the seats in Congress. That’s exactly what the president was recognizing. He wanted to make sure that all Americans were represented equally in the country in the U.S. House of Representatives.”

Rep. Jody Hice (R-Ga.) pointed out that, “Today, we don’t even have representatives from the census here with us again. The Census is counting every person in the country as they are required to do. But, the president is right by insisting that only those who are here legally be included in the process by which we, as a nation, determine our governance. And, yet, here again Democrats are intent on ensuring that they tie up this process in order to get a desired outcome, which, in essence, is to make sure that states with the largest number of illegal immigrants are actually rewarded with extra representation that they don’t deserve.”

Rep. Carol Miller (R-W.V.) applauded the Census Bureau for their efforts. She said, “As the Census nears its conclusion in the coming weeks, I want to commend the work that has been done by the Census Bureau to complete this year’s count. Given the difficult circumstances that have been created by the virus and the pandemic, West Virginia could have easily been one of the most difficult states in the nation to complete this year’s census count. But, instead, it appears it’s going to be resounding success, and I would like to thank the Census Bureau for their diligent efforts during this time.

“I strongly support the president’s action to protect the sanctity of our constitutionally mandated apportionment process, so that all American citizens are represented fairly and accurately.”

Ranking Member Comer commended the Democrats’ sincerity for ensuring the integrity of the Census, but voiced great disappointment in their lack of interest in ensuring the same for the election. He said, “I wish you all had the same sincere desire to ensure the integrity of the 2020 election because a lot of Americans expect Congress to at least hold some hearings to see what went wrong and ensure that, moving forward, we don’t have any doubts about the integrity of our election. That’s the role that this committee can play. That’s your decision. And, I strongly encourage you, once again, to allow us to have a hearing, as soon as possible, on the integrity of the 2020 election.”