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House Oversight Committee advances bill to add citizenship question to census, drawing sharp Democratic opposition
Summary
The House Oversight Committee voted to report HR 151, the Equal Representation Act, after adopting a substitute that would add a simple citizenship question to the decennial census and apportion representatives based on citizens only. Republicans said the change improves apportionment accuracy; Democrats said it is unconstitutional and would depress census participation, risking federal funding for communities.
The House Oversight and Reform Committee on markup day adopted an amendment in the nature of a substitute to HR 151, the Equal Representation Act, and voted to report the bill to the full House. The substitute would add a yes/no citizenship question to the decennial census and require apportionment to be based on U.S. citizens rather than the whole population.
Chairman Comer framed the bill as a measure to ensure ‘‘federal representation is determined by Americans only’’ and said the substitute simplifies the question to a straightforward “Are you a citizen of the United States? Yes or no.” He argued collecting…
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