Senators Brian Schatz (D-HI), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Dan Sullivan (R-AK) headlined an August 11 bipartisan letter to Senate and House leadership urging them to extend the statutory deadlines for 2020 Census apportionment and redistricting data as part of the next coronavirus relief bill, in order to give the Census Bureau �adequate time� to complete the decennial headcount.
�On April 13, 2020, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Census Bureau Director Steven Dillingham announced that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they would be adjusting 2020 Census operations. At the same time, they had requested that the Congress extend the statutory deadlines �for apportionment counts to be delivered to the President by April 30, 2021, and redistricting data to be delivered to the states no later than July 31, 2021.� This would have given the Census Bureau adequate time to compile the data sets in light of the delayed enumeration window. However, the administration has reversed course and shortened the enumeration period from October 31 to September 30, 2020, citing these statutory constraints.�
Read the Senators� letter.
Bipartisan Senators� Letter Urges Extension of Census Deadlines
Senators Brian Schatz (D-HI), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Dan Sullivan (R-AK) headlined an August 11 bipartisan letter to Senate and House leadership urging them to extend the statutory deadlines for 2020 Census apportionment and redistricting data as part of the next coronavirus relief bill, in order to give the Census Bureau �adequate time� to complete the decennial headcount.
�On April 13, 2020, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Census Bureau Director Steven Dillingham announced that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they would be adjusting 2020 Census operations. At the same time, they had requested that the Congress extend the statutory deadlines �for apportionment counts to be delivered to the President by April 30, 2021, and redistricting data to be delivered to the states no later than July 31, 2021.� This would have given the Census Bureau adequate time to compile the data sets in light of the delayed enumeration window. However, the administration has reversed course and shortened the enumeration period from October 31 to September 30, 2020, citing these statutory constraints.�
Read the Senators� letter.
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