Menéndez and Duckworth Want to Make Sure People of Color Are Accurately Counted in the Census

Senators Bob Menéndez (D-NJ) andTammy Duckworth (D-IL) led 12 of their colleagues in sending a letter to Mick Mulvaney, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, asking him to revise the Race and Ethnic Standards for Federal Statistics and Administrative Reporting, to allow implementation of a single combined question on race and ethnicity for the 2020 Census. “Doing so will allow the Census Bureau to collect the most complete and accurate data on race and ethnicity in the 2020 Census and will ensure that Census data collection produces reliable insights that advance economic development and the fair allocation of public resources,” the senators wrote. “Unless you revise the current format of government survey questions about race and ethnicity, the frequency with which Census participants provide vague or no answers at all is likely to increase, and the effort and expense required to maintain the data is also likely to increase.” By law, the Census Bureau must submit the final questions for the 2020 Census to Congress by March 31st, 2018. See the full letter here.