ORLANDO, Fla. (AP)
— The U.S. Census Bureau wants to delay deadlines for the 2020 head
count of all U.S. residents because of the coronavirus outbreak, a move
that if approved by lawmakers would push back timetables for releasing
data used to draw congressional and legislative districts, officials
said Monday.

Census
Bureau officials said they were postponing all field operations until
June 1 and the deadline for wrapping up the nation’s head count was
being pushed back to Oct. 31.

Field operations for the 2020 census have been suspended since mid-March and were set to resume this week. The deadline for finishing the head count also had been pushed back from the end of July to mid-August because of the pandemic.

Census
Bureau director Steven Dillingham and Secretary of Commerce Wilbur
Ross, whose department oversees the bureau, said they are seeking to
delay the deadline for delivering state population counts used for
apportionment — the process of carving up congressional districts — from
the end of this year to the end of April 2021.

They
also want to push back the deadline for giving states data for
redistricting from the end of March 2021 to the end of July 2021.

Both deadlines are established by federal law and any changes would require congressional approval.

The
White House arranged a call on Monday with congressional leaders about
the requested changes, but no one from the Census Bureau was on the
call. The House Committee on Oversight and Reform will carefully examine
the request, said U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, who chairs the committee.

“The
director of the Census Bureau was not even on today’s call, and the
administration has refused for weeks to allow him to brief members of
our committee, despite repeated requests,” said Maloney, a Democrat from
New York. “If the Administration is trying to avoid the perception of
politicizing the census, preventing the Census director from briefing
the committee and then excluding him from a call organized by the White
House are not encouraging moves.”

The Census Bureau said that the goal of the delays is to ensure a complete and accurate count.

When
field operations start in June, workers will be given personal
protective equipment and guidelines for social distancing, the bureau
said in a statement.

“In-person
activities, including all interaction with the public, enumeration,
office work and processing activities, will incorporate the most current
guidance to promote the health and safety of staff and the public,” the
statement said.

Census
historian Margo Anderson said the statutory deadlines are more than
four decades old. The bureau has been flexible in dealing with past
unexpected hurdles, such as during the 1850 census when returns from
California were lost at sea. In that case, another state count was
conducted in 1852, she said.

Former Census Bureau director John Thompson said the bureau was “caught between a rock and a hard place.”

“If
they start the census again too early, it’s going to be a disaster
because you are going to get people sick, you’re not going to get people
to respond and they couldn’t get protective equipment for enumerators
if they wanted it,” said Thompson, who headed the bureau in the Obama
administration. “I’m sure this is what the career people at the Census
think is the best action.”

The
2020 census started in January in remote villages of Alaska, but most
U.S. residents didn’t get to start filling out the questionnaire until
last month, when the 2020 census website went live and people started
getting notifications in the mail that they could respond. About a week
later, cities and states around the country started issuing stay-at-home
orders because of the virus.

The
Census Bureau is hoping a majority of people respond online, by
telephone or through the mail. Census takers will be sent out later this
year to knock on the doors of homes where residents haven’t yet
responded.

As of Sunday, more than 48% of households had answered the census questionnaire.

Census
Counts, a coalition of advocacy and civil rights groups conducting
census outreach, said it supported the deadline delays. NALEO
Educational Fund, a Hispanic advocacy group, urged Congress to step in.
The group said the proposed revised deadline for redistricting doesn’t
give states license to proceed in a way that compromises public
participation and constitutional rights.

The
2020 census will help determine how many congressional seats and
Electoral College votes each state gets, as well as the distribution of
$1.5 trillion in federal spending.

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