IWPR Comments Opposing the US Census Bureau’s Proposed Rule Altering the Residence Criteria and Proposed Regulations for Demographic Questions

Submitted via regulations.gov.

On behalf of the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR), I am writing to provide comment opposing the US Census Bureau’s proposed rule altering the residence criteria to exclude non-US citizens and eliminating demographic data collection related to race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation.

IWPR is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that conducts and disseminates research to shape policies that close structural gaps, improve the economic well-being of women and families from diverse backgrounds, and promote the full participation of working people in society. As a leading national think tank that routinely employs the highest standards of integrity and quality in our research, IWPR is uniquely positioned to comment on the harmful impacts the proposed rule will have on women’s economic security and health, as well as on demographic data collection. The comments below discuss the harms these changes would create for the hundreds of programs whose funding allocation is determined by the Decennial Census. Additionally, this comment details the detrimental impact this proposed rule will have on data integrity more broadly.

IWPR strongly opposes and urges the withdrawal of the Census Bureau’s proposed rule. Intentionally not collecting demographic data on non-US citizens, or on the race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation of US residents, and therefore suppressing the true composition of the people in this country, will have a devastating impact on access to critical federal and state government services and programs while threatening the data integrity of the Census Bureau.