Statement of Administration Policy: H.R. 7109 - Equal Representation Act

STATEMENT OF ADMINISTRATION POLICY

(House Rules)
(Rep. Edwards, R-NC, and 114 cosponsors)

The Administration strongly opposes H.R. 7109, which would preclude the Department of Commerce's Census Bureau from performing its constitutionally mandated responsibility to count the number of persons in the United States in the decennial census. H.R. 7109 would increase the cost of conducting the census and make it more difficult to obtain accurate data. It would also violate the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution, which requires that the number of seats in the House of Representatives "be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State...." The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to ensuring that the census remains as accurate as possible and free from political interference, and to upholding the longstanding principle of equal representation enshrined in our Constitution, census statutes, and historical tradition.