The House passed legislation Thursday intended to make it harder for future presidents to interfere with the once-a-decade census that determines political power and federal funding, a move that comes in response to the Trump’s administration’s failed effort to make a citizenship question part of the 2020 headcount.
The legislation was approved 220-208 with only Democratic lawmakers voting for it. The bill requires the Commerce secretary to certify to Congress that any new question sought on a future census be adequately studied and tested, and that the Government Accountability Office conduct a review of the certification.
It also seeks to limit political influence by mandating that a U.S. Census Bureau director can be fired only in cases of neglect of duty or malfeasance in office. It vests the director with all technical, operational and statistical decisions and says a deputy director has to be a career staffer with experience in demographics, statistics or related fields.
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