Census meddling is targeted in bill, recommendations

Democratic lawmakers intent on making sure that unprecedented efforts by the Trump administration to politicize the 2020 census never happen again are moving forward with plans for safeguards they say will help the U.S. head count stay free of future interference.

Democratic House members are preparing this week to send legislation to the House floor that would put in place roadblocks against political meddling in the U.S. census, which determines political power and federal funding.

The House legislation getting a hearing this week in front of the Committee on Rules would require new questions on a census form to be vetted by Congress and mandate that a U.S. Census Bureau director couldn’t be fired without cause. The proposed legislation vests the Census Bureau director with all technical, operational and statistical decisions and says a deputy director has to be a career staffer with experience in demographics, statistics or related fields. If approved by the committee, it will be sent to the House floor for a vote later this week.

The legislation's goals overlap with recommendations made Tuesday by the Brennan Center for Justice that would limit interference from the executive branch and increase congressional oversight of the census. The think tank, which opposed the Trump administration's efforts to end the U.S. head count early, recommends making the U.S. Census Bureau more independent.