Madam President. I will not delay the discussion (much more. I would like to ask unanimous consent to print in the RECORD portions of the Congressional Research Service report. which supports our position. but I just mention briefly: Under Article I. section 2. clause 3. as amended by section 2 of the Fourteenth Amendment. the House of Representatives is to be apportioned among the States based on the "whole number of persons." At issue is whether that term means that all inhabitants. including illegal aliens. should be counted. An examination of the usage of the term "person" at the time of the adoption of the apportionment provision by the Constitutional Convention and its ratification. and at the time of the adoption and ratification of section 2 of the Fourteenth Amendment. would seem to indicate that aliens are to be included within the term "person." I In the records of the Constitutional Convention of 1787. reference is made to the phrase "whole number of free citizens and inhabitants." I which number was to be the basis of the apportionment of the Congress and which was to be taken by a census within 3 years after the first meeting of the Congress and every ten years thereafter. The usage of the phrase "free citizens and inhabitants" would seem to indicate that authors of the Constitution concluded that the census should count not only free citizens but also any free inhabitants who were not citizens and arguably might have been aliens.
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illegal aliens