John,

Donald Trump is fighting to stop time from moving forward. This is most evident in his fruitless quest to keep the face of America from changing. He wants to build a wall with Mexico. He wants to halt immigration (particularly from non-white countries)—and, now, Trump wants to stop the constitutionally mandated Census before they are done counting.

Here's why Trump wants to stop the U.S. Census: An accurate Census tally will record population shifts throughout the United States—and shift political power accordingly.

That means areas of our country that have seen a growing share of residents who are Black, Latinx, and Asian American will gain increased power in Congress. Trump wants to stop that. Despite the delays forced by the pandemic, he wants to cut off a month of counting, so that those most likely to be missed—young children, communities of color, and low-income people—are left out. But, together, we will make sure his efforts fail—and that communities throughout the U.S. receive the resources and representation they deserve.

Check out Deborah’s email below and then take action and demand Congress step in to safeguard our democracy and protect the U.S. Census. Congress must act immediately by adding language to the next COVID bill to ensure the Census is taken accurately during the pandemic.

The U.S. Census plays a critical role in our democracy. The White House is clearly trying to undermine the Census to advance the president's short-term political goals.

These are challenging times. Thank you for your continued help to fight for vulnerable people throughout our country.

Nicolai Haddal
Field Coordinator, Coalition on Human Needs

--DEBORAH'S EMAIL--

John,

The Trump administration is planning to end the constitutionally required U.S. Census before it is even completed. Missing children and vulnerable people throughout our country would have a devastating two-fold effect for the next decade: cutting funding for a wide range of programs that have funding formulas derived from Census data, and stealing representation of vulnerable populations in Congress.

In effect, Trump knows the country doesn't support his efforts to undermine our services and communities. So he is attempting to cheat how our democracy functions. He is trying to undermine the effectiveness of the constitutionally-mandated Census.

Add your name! Tell Congress to add bipartisan legislation into the pending COVID relief measure to protect the integrity of the Census.

A rushed Census will harm every state in our country. As a direct result of the difficulties of trying to conduct a Census during a pandemic, more than a third of US households still haven’t responded. There are low response areas in every part of the United States, in every state, in every city.

If remaining counting operations are cut short, communities most in need of resources to improve quality of life and standards of living will be chronically underfunded for the next decade.

Few will be surprised to learn White House political calculations intervened, overriding experts who were running the Census. The decision to reverse course on the proposed extension of Census counting was reportedly hastily developed at the White House.

The Washington Post wrote, "Given this administration’s willingness to politicize and corrupt virtually any process, it is not hard to see why: A flawed count would almost certainly help Republicans, because poor, minority and young Americans tend to be those undercounted."¹

Tell Congress: We can't afford to miss vulnerable people throughout the United States.

It is vital that we protect the 2020 Census from political interference. The House of Representatives has already approved an extension of the 2020 Census operations as part of its most recent COVID relief package.

CHN is demanding the Senate stay the course by agreeing to an extension provision in its next COVID relief package, so that the Census Bureau has the time it needs to accurately complete remaining enumeration operations and the critical review processes afterwards.  

Our democracy demands we must have a fair census. Thank you for your continued help to fight for vulnerable people throughout our country.

Deborah Weinstein
Executive Director, Coalition on Human Needs