October 16, 2009

Vitter Urges Senators to Support his Census Amendment

(Washington, D.C.) – U.S. Sen. David Vitter today urged colleagues from other states that could lose Congressional representation after the next census to support his amendment to the Commerce, Justice and Science spending bill that would call for the inclusion of a question about citizenship on the next U.S. Census.

“If the current census plan goes ahead, the inclusion of non-citizens toward apportionment will artificially increase the population count in certain states, and that will likely result in the loss of congressional seats for nine other states, including Louisiana,” said Vitter.

To rally the support needed to stop a possible second cloture vote on the CJS appropriations bill that would block consideration of his amendment, Vitter is reaching out to senators from the other states that will be impacted - Iowa, Indiana, Mississippi, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Michigan, South Carolina, North Carolina - and to U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana.

“Voting for cloture or against my amendment could very well be a vote to strip these states of their proper representation in Congress,” Vitter said. “This is a real concern for Americans across the country who want to see apportionment fairly applied. This could be our last chance to address this problem in Congress before the next census, and I urge my colleagues to join with me to support this very important amendment.”