Trump: Census would be ‘meaningless’ without citizenship question

President Trump on Monday chided Democrats for opposing the addition of a citizenship question to the 2020 census, arguing the report would be “meaningless” and a waste of money without the controversial inquiry.

“Can you believe that the Radical Left Democrats want to do our new and very important Census Report without the all important Citizenship Question,” Trump tweeted. “Report would be meaningless and a waste of the $Billions (ridiculous) that it costs to put together!”

Can you believe that the Radical Left Democrats want to do our new and very important Census Report without the all important Citizenship Question. Report would be meaningless and a waste of the $Billions (ridiculous) that it costs to put together!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 1, 2019

Trump’s tweet comes a day before the Democrat-led House Oversight and Reform Committee is scheduled to vote to issue subpoenas to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Attorney General William Barr over the administration’s decision to add a citizenship question to the next census.

{mosads}The House panel is seeking further documentation and information on why the administration moved to add the citizenship question, which had not been included on a census survey in decades.

The Commerce Department agreed in March 2018 to add a question to the 2020 census asking whether respondents were citizens of the U.S. Ross said it would help the Department of Justice better enforce the Voting Rights Act.

Critics have asserted that the new query could be used to identify those in the country illegally or discourage them from filling out a survey. As a result, government officials and advocacy groups challenging the move argued the question would jeopardize the overall accuracy of the population count.

Census data is used to redraw congressional districts, which determine how many House seats each state receives and how many Electoral College votes they can cast in presidential elections. The count also determines how federal funding is divided up among states. 

A federal judge ruled earlier this year against asking the question. The Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case, and justices are scheduled to listen to arguments next week.