Both parties say their abiding principle is an accurate census, but they're far apart on how to achieve it. In an early sign of troubles ahead, Democrats boycotted a House Government Reform census subcommittee vote on one aspect of a GOP plan that it says would improve the head count. Behind the harsh words is the dispute over statistical sampling, an idea the National Academy of Sciences endorsed after the 1990 census missed an estimated 4 million Americans, the first census that was less accurate than the previous one. Many of those not counted were minorities who usually vote Democratic, and reapportionment using sampling could work to the advantage of Democrats.
Democrats say sampling is the only way to ensure equal representation.
In 1990, Maloney said, counters missed one of every 10 black males. The Supreme Court weighed in last month with a decision that sampling cannot be used to determine how many members of Congress each state should have. But it left unsettled whether sampling was proper for state or local redistricting or to determine who gets federal funds. R-Ill., to bring up a Democratic bill that would give legal status to sampling and supersede the Supreme Court decision. The Census Bureau must soon come back to Congress with a new plan to reflect the high court's decision.