Today, Congressman Patrick McHenry (NC-10), Ranking Member of the Census Oversight Subcommittee, sent a letter to Subcommittee Chairman William Lacy Clay (MO-1) calling for a hearing on address canvassing.

“This subcommittee has a constitutional obligation to work as a partner with the Census Bureau to ensure a successful 2010 Decennial.  Having not held a census hearing since March, we are clearly not holding up our end of the bargain.  I respectfully request that we immediately convene a hearing to address the stated concerns you have regarding the Bureau’s address canvassing effort – the ‘cornerstone of a successful census’,” stated Congressman McHenry.

The letter reads as follows:

The Honorable William Lacy Clay
Chairman
Subcommittee on Information Policy,
Census, and National Archives
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Chairman Clay:

Three months have passed since the Subcommittee last held a hearing on the 2010 Census. In that time, the subcommittee has met twice but on unrelated issues. As we head into the July 4 recess, our only scheduled census hearing – on the use of collected census data in allocating federal funding – has been postponed.

There have been many developments in census issues since our last hearing in March, such as the recently completed address canvassing effort. Acting Census Bureau Director Mesenbourg has called this stage in operations the “cornerstone” of the 2010 Census. You have also expressed your own concerns about the need to review address canvassing, releasing a statement in which you hesitated to call the operation a success because of “some unanswered questions.”

I urge you to convene the subcommittee for a timely hearing and bring representatives from the Census Bureau in to answer these questions.

                                                                    Sincerely,

                                                                    Patrick T. McHenry    
                                                                    Ranking Member    
                                                                    Subcommittee on Information Policy,            
                                                                    Census, and National Archives

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