The fight against the Trump administration’s citizenship question in the 2020 Census, a blatant attempt to undercount immigrant communities, has so far been focused on the courts, with a lawsuit led by New York challenging the question’s inclusion. But if Democrats take back the House or the Senate or both, the fight could move to Congress.
If Democrats take the House, Rep. Elijah Cummings would become the chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. He’s already indicated that he wants to investigate where the citizenship question came from, but Republicans are currently standing in the way of an investigation even as Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross appears to have lied about the question’s origins:
As the ranking Democrat on the committee, Cummings would have subpoena power and the power to call hearings and investigations, efforts he said have so far been stymied by his Republican counterpart.
“I have asked Chairman (Trey) Gowdy to obtain documents from the Commerce Department and the Justice Department, but he has declined,” Cummings said in an email. “I have also asked Chairman Gowdy to hold a hearing to have Secretary Ross explain the misleading testimony that was given to our committee and several others, but the Chairman has refused.”
Democrats could even consider legislation defunding any census that included a citizenship question. Time is short, though, since the deadline for printing the census forms is next summer.
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