When Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross announced that the 2020 Census would include a question about citizenship, Democrats reacted as though the very foundation of our republic was under assault. “Let’s call this like it is: The Census, written about and hallowed in the Constitution, is being distorted by this administration for political purposes. President Trump and (Commerce) Secretary (Wilbur) Ross should be ashamed of themselves,” howled Senate Minority Leader, Chuck Schumer.
It took about 30 seconds for Democrats, led by California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, to file a lawsuit aimed at blocking the Census Bureau from including a question that might help us ascertain how many non-citizens reside in the United States.
And it didn’t take much longer for Senate Democrats on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which has oversight of the U.S. Census Bureau, to demand hearings on the matter. “We are concerned that the addition of the citizenship question is tainted by improper political considerations,” stated a letter signed by four members of the committee.
Among the signatories to that March letter expressing their grave concerns about using the Census to gather information about citizenship status were Senators Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Tom Carper (D-Del.), and Gary Peters (D-Mich.). Yet, oddly enough, the same three senators are among a list of Democrats who have introduced The Census Equality Act that would “require the U.S. Census Bureau to ensure the approximately 10 million Americans who identify as LGBTQ are properly counted for and represented in Census data collection efforts. The Census Equality Act requires the Census Bureau to begin the process of adding questions related to sexual orientation and gender identity to the decennial census and American Community Survey (ACS).”
In addition to Harris and Carper who are the prime sponsors of the bill demanding questions about sexual orientation, co-sponsors of the Census Equality Act are: Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.), Bob Menendez (N.J.), Dick Durbin (Ill.), Patty Murray (Wash.), Amy Klobuchar (Minn.), Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.), Elizabeth Warren (Mass), Jeff Merkley (Ore.), Ron Wyden (Ore.), Gary Peters (Mich.), Tim Kaine (Va.), Cory Booker (N.J.), Tina Smith (Minn.), Michael Bennet (Colo.), and Mazie Hirono (Hawaii).
Perhaps someone can ask these senators why, in order to get a complete and accurate snapshot of the American population, it is important to include questions (plural) about sexual orientation, but including even one question about people’s citizenship is a desecration of the Constitution?