Senate Proceeding on Oct 7th, 2009 :: 4:44:30 to 4:49:00
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4:44:21 to 4:44:41( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: our country. and there is no more basic and no more democratic institution than the u.s. house of representatives. with that, mr. president, i urge all of my and republicans, to support this amendment. and i yield time to my distinguished colleague from utah, mr. bennett.

4:44:30 to 4:49:00( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Robert Bennett

4:44:42 to 4:45:02( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: mr. bennett:r. president? the presiding officer: the senator from utah is recognized. mr. bennett: mr. president, i want to thank senator vitter for introducing this amendment. it follows the idea of the that i introduced a few weeks ago that is now s. 1688, the fairness andepresentation afpblgt -- act.

4:45:03 to 4:45:26( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: -- my bill will not pass before we get so far down the road to deal with this issue. so it is appropriate for the amendment to be offered and we can accomplish the same thing with the amendment that would happen if my now, since my bill was introduced, i've had three primary objections to it. i'd like to deal with each of those, because they would probably be raised with respect

4:45:27 to 4:45:47( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: to this ament as well. number one, people say, you cannot ask citizenship on the census. you cannot ask somebody who is an illegal alien to identify himself or to admit that he is here illegally when you are doing the census calculation. well, it may surprise some

4:45:48 to 4:46:08( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: people to know that the census bureau already does ask this information. it collects it on the ongoing american community survey. that is not as comprehen the entire census. if it were, we wouldn't need to do it here. but the census bureau already has a track record of asking this question without running

4:46:09 to 4:46:31( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: into that particular difficulty. the information collected by the census is 100% confidential under penalty of law, and census takers can make clear to any individual who might be concerned about that. so, that's not a major problem. number two, people say, well,

4:46:32 to 4:46:54( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: since the census data are used to determine funding levels for the variety of programs and sie the illegal aliens get involved in the funding, if you do this, you'll be cutting funding for state programs that service the that's not fair. the reality

4:46:55 to 4:47:17( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: and my bill does not cut funding. there is nothing in the bill that would say that funding formulas would change. this is an attempt to find out how many illegal aliens we have in this country and where they live. as the statistical information which we do not fully have now

4:47:18 to 4:47:39( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: as a result of th of the american community survey. we have a hint at it, but we are extrapolating for that and we are making a guess. since the census is our once-every-10-year attempt to discover what america really like, where the americans are and where they live, it seems very lodge duel me that the

4:47:40 to 4:48:01( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: census -- very logical that the census should add this particular piece of information to it. well, after these two arguments have been paid and dismissed, the third argument we get -- we get this most strongly from the people at the exren success burea-- atthe census bureau -- is well, 's too but we've already started to print our surveys.

4:48:02 to 4:48:27( Edit History Discussion )

Robert Bennett: we can't go them and it's too late. well, i wonder if they've ever thought of printing an extra sheet, printing an extra card? you don whole survey if you have one ditiad want i've seen books where been errors in took bat have come out a