Citizenship question will not be added to 2010 census
By Daniel Gonzlez
The Arizona Republic (Phoenix), November 6, 2009
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2009/11/06/20091106census.html
The 2010 census will not include a controversial question about citizenship that critics said could have led to significant undercounts in Arizona and other states with large immigrant populations.
Undercounting could result in the loss of federal money and diminished political clout for a state because congressional seats are apportioned based on population.
On Thursday, Democrats derailed a push by Republicans in the Senate to include a citizenship question on next year's census. The proposal had sparked a contentious debate over whether all people or only citizens should be used to determine how congressional representatives are allocated to states.
The proposal was co-sponsored by Republican Sens. David Vitter of Louisiana and Robert Bennett of Utah. They sought to have non-citizens excluded from the population numbers used to allocate congressional seats, saying states with large illegal immigrant populations have an unfair advantage.
'The system is broken, and areas of the country with high illegal populations should not be rewarded with greater representation in Congress,' said Bennett, a member of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee.
While adding a citizenship question might have benefited states with few immigrants, it would have hurt states like Arizona that have high numbers of illegal immigrants, said Andrew Reamer, a fellow at Brookings, a right-leaning think tank in Washington, D.C.
The census is aimed at counting everyone, regardless of their citizenship or immigration status. Adding a citizenship question would have heightened concerns among illegal immigrants already worried that filling out the forms could give the government information to deport them, Reamer said.
Census officials don't share specific household information with other government agencies. They also are working to encourage everyone, regardless of citizenship, to be counted.
An undercount could make Arizona vulnerable to losing a congressional seat. Arizona's illegal-immigration population already is declining due to stepped-up immigration enforcement and the recession driving undocumented immigrants out of the state. In 2007, researchers estimated Arizona had as many as 500,000 illegal immigrants, or about 9 percent of the state's total population, the highest proportion of any state. A study by the Center for Immigration Studies estimates that the state's undocumented population has dropped by a third since then.
An undercount also could reduce Arizona's share of $500 billion in federal funding allocated annually to states to pay for a variety of programs and services, Reamer said. In 2008, Arizona received about $8.2 billion in federal funding, he said.
On Thursday, all 58 Democrats plus the two Democratic-leaning independents in the Senate voted to block the citizenship question from moving forward. Thirty-nine Republicans, including Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona, voted to keep it alive. Arizona's other Republican senator, John McCain, did not vote. But he indicated beforehand that he supported the proposal to add a citizenship question to the census.
'I think we should know, just as we should know how many citizens are here, we should know how many people who are here illegally as well. That makes sense,' McCain said Saturday after a morning town-hall meeting in Goodyear.
When asked if such a question might discourage participation in the census, which is used for purposes of congressional apportionment, McCain said: 'I don't think you would scare a citizen off. I don't know why it would. I don't mind being asked if I'm a citizen or not.'
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Senate blocks vote on Vitter census bill
By Gerard Shields
The Advocate (Baton Rouge), November 6, 2009
http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/politics/69347842.html
Senate says no to citizenship questions on Census surveys
By Mike Sunnucks
The Phoenix Business Journal, November 6, 2009
http://phoenix.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2009/11/02/daily60.html
Bennett's census-immigration amendment rejected
By Matt Canham
The Salt Lake Tribune (Salt Lake City), November 6, 2009
http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_13721132
Census vote defeat will cost Louisiana a House seat, David Vitter says
By Jonathan Tilove
The Times Picayune (New Orleans), November 5, 2009
http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2009/11/census_vote_defeat_will_cost_l.html
Democrats Ditch GOP Effort to Question Citizenship in 2010 Census
By Nomaan Merchant
The Wall Street Journal, November 5, 2009
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2009/11/05/democrats-ditch-gop-effort-to-question-citizenship-in-2010-census/
Senate blocks census citizenship question
By Andrew Taylor
The Associated Press, November 5, 2009
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j47VWOAOXRk4k02WLL6erT3ozmewD9BPIMD88
