GOP Oversight Members Demand Answers on Possible Biden ‘Political Interference’ in the Census

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Jacob Bliss

Republican members of the House Oversight Committee demanded answers from Gina Raimondo, Secretary of Commerce, on questionable treatment and “political interference” from the Biden administration in the 2020 Census.

The group of Republicans, led by Rep. James Comer (R-KY), ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, sent a letter to Raimondo to demand answers on questionable treatment from the Biden Administration and possible “political interference” in the 2020 census. The Republicans believe this could have given the census a “strikingly different” result than originally anticipated in December.

“Given the extra time it took to complete the 2020 Census – including not meeting the statutory deadlines by months – we have questions about the methodology,” the group said.

The group is wondering in what capacity Biden and his administration “may have played in releasing these numbers, especially as the results differ from evaluation estimates released mere months ago in ways that benefit blue states over red states.”

“While Democrats falsely accused the Trump Administration of using the Census process for political gain, President Biden has done just that,” they said.

The group continued to say even former President Donald Trump “sought to ensure the accuracy of the 2020 Census apportionment results by excluding illegal aliens from the apportionment count.”

Unfortunately, they added, “Biden reversed course, deciding to dilute American citizens’ representational interests by rescinding this commonsense measure.”

The group tried to make a point that numerous “liberal states with sanctuary policies may have lost more congressional seats if illegal immigrants had not been included in the apportionment base.”

“The apportionment population results released by the Census Bureau are strikingly different from the population evaluation estimates released just months ago on December 22, 2020,” the group continued to say.

The group asked Raimondo to respond to a series of questions and documentation no later than May 14:

  1. All documents and communications from October 15, 2020 to the present indicating whether the apportionment count was independently audited, and if so, when and by whom.
  2. All documents and communications from October 15, 2020 to the present referring to or containing any analysis of the error rate involved in the apportionment count and any factors that could be contributing to such an error rate.
  3. All documents and communications from January 20, 2021 to the present indicating the most senior official who approved, authorized or denied the final apportionment numbers to be released or discussed with Congress prior to their public release by the Census Bureau.
  4. All documents and communications from January 20, 2021 to the present between and among Census Bureau employees and anyone employed by the Executive Office of the President, including but not limited to the White House Office and the Office of Management and Budget, referring or relating to the apportionment numbers and the release of the apportionment numbers.
  5. All documents and communications from January 20, 2021 to the present referring or relating to the decision to revoke the Presidential Memorandum entitled Excluding Illegal Aliens from the Apportionment Base Following the 2020 Census and thereby include illegal aliens in the apportionment base, including any consideration for whether such a decision would advantage candidates belonging to a particular political party.
  6. All documents and communications from January 20, 2021 to the present, sufficient to show what the apportionment results would have been if persons without a lawful immigration status had been excluded from the apportionment base.
  7. All documents and communications containing any reference to or analysis of the differences between the December 22, 2020 evaluation estimates and the actual apportionment results of the Decennial Census, as well as an accounting of potential errors attributable to either the evaluation estimates or the apportionment results.

“The Committee on Oversight and Reform is the principal oversight committee of the U.S. House of Representatives and has broad authority to investigate “any matter” at “any time” under House Rule X,” the group reiterated.

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