Census Bureau’s chief scientist warned secretary in memo against adding citizenship question

The Hill ^ | 06/10/18 | Jacqueline Thomsen

[yesthatjallen]

An internal memo from the chief scientist of the U.S. Census Bureau warned Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross against adding a question on citizenship to the 2020 census.

John Abowd, the agency’s chief scientist and associate director for research and methodology, wrote in the January memo that adding a citizenship question would be "very costly, harms the quality of the census count, and would use substantially less accurate citizenship status data than are available from administrative sources."

The document also states that adding the questions would create "major potential quality and cost disruptions" for the 2020 census.

The memo does say that the cost of adding the question would be minimal and would create a "direct measure of self-reported citizenship for the whole population."

However, Abowd’s overall argument is against adding the question, stating that "citizenship status is misreported at a very high rate for non-citizens."

CNN reported that Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee released the internal memo on Saturday.

ETC...

[publius911]

To get it I was required to present a US passport or US birth certificate,my Social Security card (*not* laminated),a current driver's license or state ID and two pieces of mail from banks,the government,etc.

OK.What's the big deal of whether a Social Security card is laminated or not?
What am I missing?

My origina SS card was cheap government cardboard, and wouldn't last a year in regular use.
What's the point of having one if you are not expected to use it?

[Gay State Conservative]

OK.What's the big deal of whether a Social Security card is laminated or not? What am I missing?

Good question.I got my original one in the 1960s and,early on,laminated it.And the DMV office sent me home and told me to get a new one...which I did...applied online and it comes in about a week.

[TexasGator]

What is interesting is that he said it.

[itsahoot]

My origina SS card was cheap government cardboard, and wouldn't last a year in regular use.

I have carried my original SS card since 1954 and it is still intact.

[Trillian]

Only citizens of the USA should be counted for the census of the USA. The illegals can go home.

[Some Fat Guy in L.A.]

You can always tell when something terrifies a rat.

[trebb]

He’s afraid that the new data can be compared to older data and give a clearer picture of how bad the illegal problem really is.....funny that a “scientist” wants less data to work with....

[Svartalfiar]

I just put mine in a baseball card sleeve. Protected but not laminated.

[itsahoot]

I just put mine in a baseball card sleeve. Protected but not laminated.

I don't know why but even though mine is a little yellow, it is still together I used to pull it out for kids to show that I never lost a wallet.