Don't Wreck the Census

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To [Your Senators]: Vote NO on Vitter-Bennett amendment http://DontWreckTheCensus.org
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  • Center for American Progress: Impractical and Unconstitutional: Sen. Vitter Tries to Use the Census to Further Anti-Immigration Agenda

    "Some politicians come up with dumb ideas. Some come up with impractical ideas that would cost taxpayers millions of dollars.

    And then there are those lawmakers with crazy proposals that would violate the United States Constitution.

    Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) has hit the trifecta by playing politics with the 2010 Census. Vitter is demanding that Congress cut off funding for the 2010 Census unless the survey asks an additional question: whether the respondent is a U.S. citizen."

Stop the Vitter-Bennett amendment

In yet another attempt to marginalize U.S. immigrants and inject hate into politics, Senators David Vitter (LA-R) and Bob Bennett (UT-R) introduced an amendment to the Commerce, Justice and Science Appropriations bill that would require questions in the 2010 census on immigration status.

If passed, the Vitter-Bennett amendment would throw a monkey wrench into the U.S. Census, making it completely unreliable as the one document that is supposed to paint an accurate picture of who we are as a nation.

  • It would prevent the questionnaire forms from being mailed next spring and wasting over $7 billion in research, planning, and preparation that has occurred for Census 2010.
  • It would discourage millions of immigrants from participating in the 2010 Census--potentially costing hundreds of billions in lost funding to local communities;

What can you do to stop the Vitter-Bennett amendment?

1. Click here to call your Senator and tell them to vote NO on the Vitter-Bennett amendment.

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2. Click here to write your Senator and tell them to vote NO on the Vitter-Bennett amendment.

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The real truth behind the Vitter-Bennett amendment?

Anti-immigrant legislators like Vitter are willing to compromise the accuracy of the census in their obsessive efforts to inject an anti-immigrant agenda into every conceivable realm of public life. But the real policy ramifications are endless. If passed, this amendment would stop the 2010 Census dead in its tracks--preventing the questionnaire forms from being mailed next spring and wasting over $7 billion in research, planning, and preparation that has occurred for Census 2010.

If passed, it would completely undermine a hallowed institution that has been in our constitution from the very beginning. Held every 10 years, the U.S. Census determines Congressional reapportionment and political representation in State Legislatures and hundreds of legislative bodies at the local level.

It also decides the allocation of more than $400 billion in Federal funds to communities annually--including funds for Medicaid, voter protection, SCHIP, childcare, early child education, school lunch, and other vital services. Critical to businesses, governments and the independent sector, the Census serves as the fundamental source of information on our nation's demographic makeup--guiding private and public research projects that influence a broad range of social/policy decisions.

A failed 2010 U.S. Census count has massive implications that could be devastating to communities for the next decade--and supporting an amendment that takes away the ability of the Census to paint an accurate portrait of America is not smart.

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