美国国家公共电台 NPR Census Bureau Stops Plans For 2020 Census Advisory Committee

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RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

NPR has learned about a change in how the Trump¹ administration is preparing for the upcoming 2020 census². Unlike for the national head counts in 2000 and 2010, the U.S. Census Bureau has decided³ not to create a committee of advisers⁴ for the 2020 count. NPR's Hansi Lo Wang explains why that matters.

HANSI LO WANG, BYLINE⁵: The 2020 Census Advisory⁶ Committee was supposed to be a group of up to 25 volunteers with experience in research, business, marketing⁷ or community-based groups.

JOHN THOMPSON: What I wanted to do is try to get a committee set up to give us advice on the census and also to help us get the word out, you know, about the importance of the census.

WANG: That was former Census Bureau Director John Thompson. Before he left the bureau last June, he helped start the plans to create this committee. Now NPR has obtained a letter from the bureau that confirms those plans have been stopped. Instead, the agency is going to rely on advisers from two existing committees that focus on scientific issues and on racial, ethnic⁸ and other populations.

THOMPSON: And I don't want to knock the current committees because I think they're really good. But I don't think that you would get the full breadth of potential users and stakeholders.

WANG: The stakes facing the 2020 census are high. The count determines how many congressional seats and Electoral College votes each state gets. That's why Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League and chair of the 2010 Census Advisory Committee, thinks that not creating a committee for 2020...

MARC MORIAL: Well, that's - I really think that's a mistake.

WANG: Morial says he's especially concerned that the upcoming census will be the first one in the U.S. to be conducted online. Plus, there is a new citizenship⁹ question added by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, who oversees¹⁰ the census. That question has sparked six lawsuits¹¹ from dozens of states, cities and other groups that want it removed because Census Bureau research suggests it could discourage noncitizens and harm the head count's accuracy. Morial says a new advisory committee could help the Census Bureau meet the constitutional requirement to count every person living in the country every 10 years.

MORIAL: What this all feeds into is whether there's a intentionality to prevent a complete count or that the department doesn't want transparency, doesn't want accountability.

WANG: In a written statement, a Census Bureau spokesperson described the agency's current group of advisers as well-versed. The bureau is trying to fill open spots on its Committee on Racial, Ethnic and Other Populations. Nominations¹² are due by August 3. Hansi Lo Wang, NPR News, New York.

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