Don't Ignore This Census Story

[babylonsister]

http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a55000/census-director-resigns/

Don't Ignore This Census Story

Even though there's so much else going on right now.
By Charles P. Pierce
May 10, 2017


Hey, y'all want something to worry about that isn't all over the electric teevee machine? Try the fact that the director of the national census just quit because he might not have enough money to do the job in 2020. From The Washington Post:

John H. Thompson, who has served as director since 2013 and worked for the bureau for 27 years before that, will leave June 30, the Commerce Department announced Tuesday. The news, which surprised census experts, follows an April congressional budget allocation for the census that critics say is woefully inadequate. And it comes less than a week after a prickly hearing at which Thompson told lawmakers that cost estimates for a new electronic data collection system had ballooned by nearly 50 percent. "It's like two trains going down the track toward each other, with Republicans decrying the budget overrun and Democrats saying the census has been underfunded," Phil Sparks, co-director of the Census Project, a watchdog organization, said of the May 3 hearing before the House Appropriations subcommittee on commerce, justice and science. "This puts the census in the crosshairs both ways."

The crisis here is obvious. This will be the first census since 2010. That census helped produce the congressional districts that produced, in succession, the two worst House majorities in the history of the Republic. In the years since, gerrymandering and voter-suppression has been at high tide out in the states. This all has worked to the benefit of Republican majorities in state legislatures and in the Congress, and now the latter is nickel-and-diming the upcoming census? You'll forgive me if I don't think all this is coincidental.

A former Capitol Hill staffer who is knowledgeable about the census said Congress's mandate for the 2020 Census to cost no more than the 2010 one was unrealistic. "They're not accounting for inflation; they're not accounting for the 30 million more Americans, for the fact that people don't have hard {telephone} lines anymore. And you're going to do the census for the same amount of money? That's not possible."

They do not miss a trick. These really are the fcking mole people.

[wildeyed]

1. This a BIG deal.

kick

[lpbk2713]

2. There's a light at the end of the tunnel.

And it's The Midnight Special.


Shining its ever loving light on me.

[Solly Mack]

3. K&R

[Ohioblue22]

4. it's to protect the gerrymandering

[Kber]

5. This the how they set up voter restrictions for the next 10 years.

[zentrum]

6. It's a coup. nt

[Wounded Bear]

7. Certainly an ominous report...

Another reason why taking the House in '18 is vital.

[warmfeet]

8. You are quite correct.

They are rigging the game in every way possible.

[magicarpet]

13. Locking out access to the Dems....

....so they retain exclusive control over our political system. Dems relegated sit in the back of the bus only - Rethugs sit in the front and drive and control the destination of where the bus goes and what schedule the bus keeps.

The best the Dems can hope is to back seat drive only. The Rethugs want their foot on the brakes and the accelerator at all times.
Full speed ahead. Be sure to fasten your seat belts, watch out for the whiplash, don't forget your crash helmet, it is sure to be a selfish and bumpy ride.

Dismantle the will and the means of self governance so the corporate fascists can gain total rule absent any oversight.

[That Guy 888]

9. Kick and Recommend The next census is one of the few dwindling opportunities to block GOP

...election fraud.

[diva77]

10. Thanks for info. I just called my US Rep's office to ask that Census be adequately funded

not sure it is on the radar of most congressmen currently

[Historic NY]

11. Get awoke!!! Now before its too late!! Census boils down to your representation!!

[Chicago1980]

12. Welp, the house controls the purse strings correct?

Better take that bitch back in 2018.

[yardwork]

14. Agreed. This is crucial.

[question everything]

15. but they have all the millions to cover the nasty family and its travles (nt)

[tavalon]

16. Please repost this story in about a week

It IS very important and no matter how much you and I might want it to be so, it will be lost in the maelstrom that is today.

[progressoid]

17. rec!

[JHan]

18. K & R