Posted on 10/28/2009 11:23:27 AM PDT by AuntB
Washington, DC – virtually the entire Louisiana delegation is putting pressure on Louisiana US Senator Mary Landrieu in connection with the Census-Illegal Alien amendment that has brought Louisiana Senator David Vitter back into the national news.
Today, Congressman John Fleming joined Senator David Vitter, Congressmen Rodney Alexander, Charles Boustany, Bill Cassidy, Charlie Melancon and Steve Scalise in sending a letter to Senators Mary Landrieu and Harry Reid asking them to allow the Vitter-Bennett Amendment to be voted on. The amendment, number 2644, is to the Commerce-Justice-Science Appropriations bill and would require next year’s census to ask a single question on U.S. citizenship.
“It is imperative that we have correct population data, especially since this is the tool that is used to determine accurate congressional representation in Congress,” said Fleming. “We must do everything possible to ensure the census provides the proper information regarding United States citizens, not illegals. The founding fathers of this country never intended for those who are not yet fully naturalized to be represented in Washington. The Vitter-Bennett Amendment is a crucial step towards eliminating census fraud and providing this country with an accurate count of who its citizens are.”
The complete text of the letter can be found below.
Congressman John Fleming represents the 4th District of Louisiana and is a member of the House Armed Services and Natural Resources Committees.
Dear Majority Leader Reid and Senator Landrieu: We write to urge you to support the Vitter-Bennett amendment number 2644 to the Commerce-Justice-Science Appropriations bill, and to not invoke cloture on the bill until a vote on that amendment is assured. This amendment would simply require next year's census to ask a single question on U.S. citizenship (not legal status). This question is included in the census long form and has been included in eleven prior U.S. Censuses.
This is a both a crucial national issue and one that very directly impacts Louisiana. As it is planned now, next year's census will not ask respondents if they are U.S. Citizens. Therefore, the resulting congressional reapportionment will have to be based on the overall count of persons, including non-citizens (both legal and illegal). This will result in Louisiana losing one congressional seat compared to if reapportionment were based on citizens only. So the impact on Louisiana could not be more direct or clear.
This analysis is based on the census bureau's own data and estimates as well as the careful, sober work of many experts, including Louisiana demographer Elliott Stonecipher and LSU law professor John Baker.
Again, we urge you to support this common sense effort. Please support the Vitter-Bennett amendment, and please do not invoke cloture on that appropriations bill until a vote on the amendment is assured.
However, not everyone agrees with most of the Louisiana delegation. Here is some of the other side of this issue:
Vitter takes on census, immigrant rights groups (Washington Times)
How to Waste Money and Ruin the Census (New York Times)
I’d love for a constitutional lawyer to explain to me why including illegal aliens in population counts used for apportionment is not a violation of one man/one vote.
the census is to count population, not voters, women, children and slaves have always been counted but couldn’t vote.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.