Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross asks Congress for more funds for 2020 census
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross on Thursday asked Congress for an additional $3.3 billion to complete the 2020 census, now estimated to cost $15.6 billion.
Ross said additional funds are needed to implement and test new technology in time for census practice-runs in 2018, and to ramp up participation as cybersecurity concerns and distrust of the government threaten to dampen already declining response rates.
“The census is the bedrock upon which we construct our system of democratic representation,” Ross said before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. “With the changes I have detailed and additional resources requested, I am confident we will have a full, fair and accurate census.”
But some members of Congress said even Ross' new estimate is not enough. Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.) said the estimate was a “good start,” but not enough to make up for problems caused by insufficient funding by Congress and the White House in past years.
Read more: http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-ross-census-20171012-story.html
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