Final Days of the Bush Administration 5

Source of graph: "What Do We Know About The Undercount of Children?" by Kirsten K. West and J. Gregory Robinson, U. S. Census Bureau

According to today's Washington Post:

The Census Bureau plans to cut spending on advertising and community outreach for the 2010 census by at least a fourth compared with the 2000 census, provoking concern among congressional overseers that historically difficult-to-count groups such as minorities and illegal immigrants will not be accurately tallied.

Although the reduction was part of the fiscal 2009 budget proposed to Congress by the administration in February and was reflected in a stopgap budget resolution adopted by Congress last month, several members of Congress said they did not become aware of the change until two weeks ago, when their staffers asked Census Bureau employees to brief them on details of the marketing plan.

Comment: The Republicans have worked for years to decrease the completeness of the census. Their efforts always have the effect of undercounting the poor, and I assume that their efforts result in some small electoral value to their party.

The Bush administration may leave in January, but the budget for 2009 that they submitted last winter and passed recently is likely to cut the accuracy of the 2010 census.

Shame on the legislators who let this one slip past them. Greater shame on the Bush administration for slipping this past the Congress. Shame on us all for letting the ideals of democracy fall to political manipulation. Perhaps the Obama administration can slip the needed money into the financial stimulus bill that they will be passing early in the new Congress. JAD