Sabotaging the census

The decennial national census is more than just a constitutionally required headcount: It is how America represents, recognizes, values and invests in our communities. Census data is used to allocate $1.5 trillion in annual federal funding for public schools, roads and bridges, healthcare and much more.

In fiscal year 2016, Alaska received more than $3 billion through 55 federal spending programs guided by data taken from the 2010 census. Among those programs: Medicaid, student loans, programs to feed hungry children and families, Medicare Part B, healthcare centers, rural electrification and unemployment insurance. The count also affects our democratic representation: It’s used to define voting districts, and it determines how many seats each state gets in the U.S. House of Representatives.

An accurate census means money for our communities and equitable representation in our government. And we only have one chance every 10 years to get it right.

But getting a full and accurate count is hard work, even without a massive global health crisis limiting our ability to interact physically. The U.S. Census Bureau launched the massive effort last year, before the COVID-19 pandemic, hoping first to have as many people as possible counted by mail and digitally, and then to roll out a national door-knocking program to count the rest. The Alaska Public Employees Association/AFT and the Alaska Nurses Association/AFT, alongside the 1.7 million educators, healthcare professionals and public employees who belong to the nationwide American Federation of Teachers volunteered to help with this effort, along with so many community groups across the country, because counting everyone is part of our patriotic duty. As part of this effort, we distributed 25,000 census counting books to schools and feeding centers with the help of our members and their communities. We wanted to make sure that every person was counted, and that every dollar from the federal government got to a school or library or hospital where it was needed.

At the onset of the pandemic, the Census Bureau necessarily suspended all door-knocking operations, and extended the national census completion deadline from June 30 to Oct. 31, all measures it could take on its own given the circumstances. It also formally asked Congress to push back by four months the deadline for delivering data for apportionment, or drawing congressional districts. This commonsense request was expected to meet with bipartisan support, and the U.S. House of Representatives incorporated it into the HEROES Act, its next stimulus package.

But now, the census has become a political football. In the year when it remains increasingly difficult to get an accurate count, the Trump administration has decided not to extend the deadline, but to end census operations a month early, on Sept. 30. The Census Bureau’s request to extend the deadline for delivering apportionment data to Congress is now stalled in the Republican-controlled Senate, and Senate Republicans’ COVID-19 stimulus bill does not include it.

This extension is critically necessary: As of Aug. 2, 37% of U.S. households had not yet responded to the census questionnaire. Following up is painstaking at the best of times, but speeding it up during the COVID-19 pandemic will only worsen the historical undercounting of some of the communities that need census-determined funding allocations most: Black, brown and Native American communities; rural communities; immigrant and undocumented communities; poorer communities; and the homeless.

The motivation is clearly political: Now that the administration has seen the current count, it desperately wants an undercount, because it’s politically beneficial for the administration to ignore certain groups. But in the process, states and communities will be cheated of much-needed federal dollars. Even in the “before times,” this is a bad and unconstitutional idea. But in the COVID-19 era, it’s a dangerous and disastrous power grab.

Given the recession we’re facing, it’s more essential than ever that federal funds reach communities in need, which is what census data allows policymakers to do. Alaska was just climbing out of the state’s longest recession when the pandemic devastated businesses, slammed industries such as the cruise ship sector, and slashed jobs. Alaska can’t recover unless there is a massive federal investment in funding our state’s future. The census shows where that money is needed and just how much it is needed; without an accurate response, the money won’t get where it needs to go.

Perhaps the greatest irony of all is that the 2020 census information will be crucial for guiding our nation’s response to pandemics, public emergencies and disasters over the next decade. As the Population Reference Bureau (a think tank that collects key data on population, health and the environment) explains it: “First responders and disaster recovery personnel use census data to help identify where and how much help is needed. Similarly, demographic details from the census assist epidemiologists and public health personnel in everything from tracking disease outbreaks, to combating the opioid epidemic, to improving child health.”

So instead of turning the census into another cheap political shot, what if President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell did the right thing, and let everyone be counted? What if they extended the census apportionment deadline as part of any COVID-19 relief bill that emerges from the Senate? Maybe, just once, the Trump administration could cease its attempts to undercut this foundational instrument of democracy.

To be counted is to count. Once every 10 years, everyone in our country gets that chance to be visible, to be truly seen in how our nation spends its money and runs its democracy. Sabotaging the census for political gain would have been malpractice in the days before COVID-19. But today, at a time when our country is facing an economic, racial justice and healthcare crisis that is all about who matters and what doesn’t, it’s truly unthinkable.

Cecily Manning is President of the Alaska Public Employees Association. Donna Phillips is Chair of Labor Council of the Alaska Nurses Association. Randi Weingarten is president of the American Federation of Teachers.

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