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'are you a us citizen?'
Published Nov. 4, 2009Views: 187
Excerpt from CNN
Senator David Vitter (R-LA) and others are asking, why not? Vitter is pushing an amendment to a Senate spending bill that would put the citizenship question on the next census form. The Bureau of the Census hasn’t asked that question before. So, why now?
Senator Vitter told Carol Costello that it’s all about apportionment, which is the allocation of seats in the House of Representatives based on the number of people counted in each state by the census. It’s right there in Article I of the U.S. Constitution.
“…Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years…”
For Senator Vitter, who represents Louisiana in the U.S. Senate, this is personal. “If all people,” the senator says, “including non-citizens, including illegals, go into the process of reapportionment, Louisiana will lose one House seat.”
One challenge for Senator Vitter and his supporters is that the Constitution goes onto say, in Article 14, that the government must “…count(ing) the whole number of persons in each state….”
“It’s certainly an open legal issue what the constitution requires,” Senator Vitter says, “…whether it takes a statute to change it or a constitutional amendment, we’ll deal with that legality later. But…shouldn’t it be a consensus that reapportionment should count citizens and should not factor in non citizens?”
And then, at least for the 2010 census, there would be the matter of the logistics and cost of reprinting millions of census forms.
Robert Groves, the Director the U.S. Census Bureau, says it could cost in the “hundreds of millions of dollars” to add that single question about citizenship [The forms have already been printed]. Groves also says that he has deadline dates to meet, including the April 1 mailing of the forms. “We can’t meet that deadline with a change to the questionnaire.”
Should 2010 census ask, 'Are you a US citizen?'
Filed under: News & Issues
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GOLO member since September 6, 2007
November 4, 2009 7:59 p.m.
Of course, we'll be certain to ask it of him about 3 million times during the upcoming election cycle.
GOLO member since September 6, 2007
November 4, 2009 7:57 p.m.
(let the insults begin)
GOLO member since May 19, 2009
November 4, 2009 3:39 p.m.
GOLO member since March 27, 2009
November 4, 2009 3:19 p.m.
GOLO member since December 21, 2007
November 4, 2009 3:18 p.m.
GOLO member since October 18, 2007
November 4, 2009 3:14 p.m.
GOLO member since September 11, 2008
November 4, 2009 3:14 p.m.
GOLO member since September 1, 2007
November 4, 2009 3:08 p.m.
Take the test and be surprised. http://games.toast.net/independence/
GOLO member since February 21, 2008
November 4, 2009 3:06 p.m.
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