This should not be done lightly. The last time the mandated method was overthrown. in 1920. there was no reapportionment in the House of Representatives for an entire decade. This amendment also asks the Census Bureau to do what they now consider to be the impossible: Distinguish citizens from noncitizens in the 1980 census. The Director of the Bureau testified this year before the Commerce. Consumer and Monetary Affairs Subcommittee. which I chair. that given the data collected in the 1980 dicennial census there is no known method for distinguishing citizens from noncitizens. There are also serious institutional problems with this amendment as well. As I have indicated. it is a proposal which raises monumental constitutional. legal. and technical questions.
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