Bachmann proposes limits on census information

Posted at 3:52 PM on July 13, 2009 by Tim Pugmire (4 Comments)

Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) has introduced a bill that addresses some of her concerns about census data. Bachmann and Rep. Ted Poe (R-Texas) want to limit the amount of personal information solicited by the US Census Bureau. Poe's office put out the following news release on the American Community Survey Act:

WASHINGTON, DC - Congressman Ted Poe (TX-02) and Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (MN-06) introduced the American Community Survey Act to limit the amount of personal information solicited by the US Census Bureau. The American Community Survey is a mandatory survey from the US Census Bureau sent out yearly to a random sampling of 3 million households. However, the current survey solicits unnecessary personal information. The American Community Survey Act would make the survey voluntary and only require people to answer four questions: a) name; b) contact info; c) date of response; d) number of people living or staying at the same address.

"After learning how intrusive the questions in the Census survey are, I feel that it is important that the Census Bureau stick to counting people and not intrude into the personal lives of the American people," said Congressman Poe. "The primary purpose of the survey is to determine our population, not inquire how much you pay for your utilities, if you have emotional problems or if you had a job last week. This legislation will eliminate these types of irrelevant questions and ensure our right to personal privacy."

"Under the U.S. Constitution, a count of the nation's population is required to be conducted every ten years. This is not only a legitimate purpose, but essential in order to apportion representatives in Congress and direct taxes," said Congresswoman Bachmann. "But throughout the years, additional questions of a more personal nature were added so that the federal government could have more detailed information to make and implement its ever-expanding public policy. A lot of Americans - myself included - have real concerns about the ultimate protection of our sensitive personal information. I am proud to partner with my colleague, Representative Poe, on this important initiative that respects the American people's privacy."

---

Comments (4)

One of the purposes of government is to help conduct basic research, because few individual businesses will find it worthwhile to pay for such research themselves. Call me crazy, but research into job losses and utility rates might be somewhat useful in not only formulating government policies, but also for businesses.

I'm not sure I get what Bachmann believes. My best guess is that she wishes for the U.S. to return to a simpler time, say a couple hundred years ago, when we didn't live in an incredibly complex and advanced market economy and hence there was no need to accumulate data to help make complicated decisions. Perhaps somebody should tell her that you can no longer put that genie back into the bottle. I guess she could also move to a country where that kind of information is useless; an uninhabited island in the Pacific may qualify.

Posted by Doctor Gonzo | July 13, 2009 6:45 PM

---

When Rep. Bachmann no longer be uses this 'intrusive' information in her campaigns or when drafting legislation or when fund raising, then I will believe she is sincere.

Posted by MJ | July 13, 2009 9:45 PM

---

It's touching that she's so concerned about government bothering people (although some of that concern might have been directed at the egregious violations of our rights in the past administration.) Call me a skeptic, but when the dimensions of many programs serving the poor, persons with disabillity and persons of color are defined indirectly or directly by census information, it seems just possible that her agenda is really more about gutting programs that she doesn't want.

Posted by Doofous | July 14, 2009 11:44 AM

---

For many of the questions, the American Community Survey website has a section on FAQ stating the Federal Needs and Community Benefits. The common reason that is cited is that federal legislation required it … so in essence, Congresswoman Bachmann wants to redo legislation … potentially even for legislation that she helped enact.
Accepting the argument that some of the questions may be sensitive, isn’t there any that Congresswoman Bachmann would approve ?
There are roughly 70 questions (see Congressman Poe’s website for the questionaire.) There are only two that I could not rationalize a reason that would be benefiical in knowing …
#21. Housing What is the annual payment for fire, hazard, and flood insurance ? (It may be relevent to know IF there is coverage but the payment amount is based on insuring company and amount of coverage.)
#36 For whom did this person work ? The name of the company would be irrelevent but the person’s occupation was is relevent (which is asked in question 37).
IF Congresswoman Bachmann’s legislation is enacted, what does she propose be used to obtain the information ? Without it, bureaucrats would base their decisions on gut … not a good idea when concrete data could be used.
Let’s see how many of her collegues become co-sponsors.

Posted by Minnesota Central | July 15, 2009 11:55 AM

---

Post a comment

The following HTML tags are allowed in your comments:
+ Bold: <b>Text</b>
+ Italic: <i>Text</i>
+ Link: <a href="http://url" target="_blank">Link</a>
Fields marked with * are required.

Name*:

E-mail Address*:

URL:

Remember personal info?

Comments*:

Comment Preview appears above this form upon pressing the "preview" button. Edit your comment and press "preview" again, until you are satisfied with your comment.

Your comment may not appear on the blog until several minutes after it was submitted.

• E-mail this page
• Print this page
• Save to Delicious
• Submit to Digg
• Share this

Services

• Hourly Newscast
• HD Radio
• iPhone App / Mobile
• E-mail newsletters
• RSS feeds
• Podcasts
• Submit your photos
• Videos
• Weather
• Most e-mailed stories

Become a Sponsor