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Late Breaking News |
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| Date: August 14, 1998 5:58 pm Contact: Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Dan Sallick or Melisa Diaz, 202-314-5273 |
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Latest News Releases
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DCCC's Frost 'Disappointed' by Ruling on Census Sampling | ||
| WASHINGTON - August 24 - The following was released today by the
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee: Congressman Martin Frost, Chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) said today that the ruling of a federal court rejecting the U.S. Census Bureau sampling plan is "terribly disappointing." "The Republicans, for partisan purposes, time and again, have been willing to sacrifice the political rights of minority citizens in order to advance their own political gains. Sampling will ensure that minority residents of this country are acknowledged and counted. The suit that the federal court ruled on today was brought by Newt Gingrich and other partisan Republican leaders. It is our hope that this decision will be appealed, and reversed by the Supreme Court," said Frost. In the 1990 Census, more than eight million people were not counted. Most of these not counted were Hispanics or African Americans. To avoid this problem, the Census Bureau proposed the use of a statistical technique of sampling for the next Census in the year 2000. "Sampling" enjoys widespread support in the scientific community, having being endorsed by the American Statistical Association, the Population Association of America and the General Accounting Office. According to a National Association of Sciences study ordered by Congress "sampling was the only way to ensure an accurate census count." Undercounting has a real impact in people's lives. Congressional districts are periodically adjusted based on the new population data, to make sure every citizen has equal representation. Billions of dollars in federal grants for education, transportation and health care are distributed on the basis of population. Therefore, undercounted communities will loose significant financial support for local schools, roads and health care services. Also, federal, state and local officials use Census population data to decide where to build hospitals, schools and highways, thus, undercounting will result in longer waits for medical care, over-crowded schools and more traffic. -0- |
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