Washington, D.C. (Apr. 15, 2020)—This week, leading experts provided a telephone briefing to Members of the Committee on Oversight and Reform on the impact of the coronavirus crisis on the 2020 Census and the Trump Administration’s recent request for Congress to delay statutory deadlines by 120 days.

“The Census Bureau has an extremely difficult task in achieving a complete and accurate count while protecting Census workers and the American people during this public health crisis,” said Chairwoman Maloney. “The Committee will carefully examine the Administration’s request for Congress to pass a law delaying Census deadlines, but as these experts all agreed, the Census Bureau must work with Congress to provide a clear and robust plan to ensure that every person in America will be counted, including those in hard-to-reach communities.”

“The pandemic has upended operations across the federal government, and the 2020 Census is no exception,” said Subcommittee on Civil Right and Civil Liberties Chairman Raskin. “The Bureau must clearly take all necessary precautions to protect its workers and the public, but it must live up to our constitutional duty and maintain the integrity of the count. I am extremely concerned about the effect that extended delays might have on the ability of states to redistrict in time for the 2021 and 2022 elections. We will continue robust oversight of the Census to safeguard both our people involved in it and the laws of our democracy.”

The briefing included the following experts:

John Thompson, former Director, Census Bureau

Arturo Vargas, Chief Executive Officer, NALEO Educational Fund

John Yang, President and Executive Director, Asian Americans Advancing Justice

Terri Ann Lowenthal, leading Census consultant

Census experts provided the following information during the briefing: