Washington » Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said it's too late to ask respondents in next year's census to tally their citizenship status as Utah Sen. Bob Bennett wants.
Locke, backing Census Director Robert Groves, says 300 million questionnaires already have been printed for next year's once-a-decade count and any pause would delay the mammoth task and add hundreds of millions to the cost.
"It's too late to shift gears," Locke said in opposing an amendment Republicans Bennett and Louisiana Sen. David Vitter are offering that would cut funding to the Census Bureau unless it asks an 11th question about citizenship.
Bennett, facing a tough re-election fight next year against conservative candidates, pushed the idea of asking citizenship, arguing that because trillions of dollars are divvied out based on the census tally, in addition to congressional representation, the bureau should identify which respondents are legal citizens.
Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, joined the movement Tuesday, becoming a co-sponsor of the House version of Bennett's bill.
Chaffetz says it's "hogwash" that it's too late to add another question.
"It's better to get it right," Chaffetz said. "We can figure out the printing problems. ... We will spend trillions and trillions of dollars in the next few years. We better make sure the information is correct."
Locke noted Congress had the language of the census form in April 2009 and said adding a question now would require rewriting software codes as well as reprogramming scanners -- at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars.
Six former Census Bureau directors also issued a statement this week saying that changing the question would jeopardize the count's accuracy as well as postpone its April start.
The Senate this week is debating funding for the Commerce Department, which includes the Census Bureau.
