Burns: Representation Must be Fair
Amendment Demands Census Bureau Report to Congress on Problem of Apportionment, Solutions


May 23, 2006

WASHINGTON, D.C. -
U.S. Senator Conrad Burns (R – Mont.) today offered an amendment to the immigration bill based on his Fair and Accurate Representation Act (FARA) of 2006. The amendment will demand the U.S. Census Bureau to issue a thorough report to Congress detailing the impact of illegal immigration on the reapportionment of seats in the House of Representatives. The amendment also directs the Census Bureau to develop a method to effectively exclude illegal aliens from reapportionment counts.

“If we get started on this now, this broken system can be fixed by 2010 when apportionment next occurs,” said Senator Burns. “Illegal immigration affects our everyday lives in many ways, including our system of representation. Currently, U.S. Census data counts everyone, including illegal immigrants, and this amendment will require the Census Bureau to seriously review how damaging this is and what can be done now to fix it. Montana is growing and deserves a second House seat. We should not have our representation stolen by a broken system, and this amendment will provide the answers we need to fix this system.”

The FARA was introduced several weeks ago as a stand-alone bill and would restrict illegal immigrants from being counted during the congressional reapportionment process. Reapportionment is done every ten years and determines the number of Congressional districts proportionally granted to each state based on population trends.

A vote on Senator Burns’ amendment, #4124, is expected Tuesday or Wednesday of this week. Senator Burns will continue fighting for his stand-alone bill to end the use of illegal immigrants for statistical data applied for Congressional representation.

If this effort is undertaken now, Senator Burns believes a more fair and accurate system will be in place for the 2010 Census.

Senator Burns served in the United States Marine Corps from 1955-1957 and is a senior member of the Senate Commerce Committee.

**This was a production of The Coalition Against Illegal Immigration (CAII). If you would like to participate, please go to the above link to learn more. Afterwards, email the coalition and let me know at what level you would like to participate.

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