document: In a blow to California and other states with large immigrant populations , the Senate voted Friday to bar the Census Bureau from counting illegal aliens in the 1990 population count . The action came on a voice vote , despite arguments from the Bush Administration and other opponents that it is both unconstitutional and unworkable . Just before the voice vote , the senators voted , 50 to 41 , against killing the proposal to bar aliens from the count . A Senate-House conference committee will decide whether the prohibition against including illegal immigrants in the census totals will be retained or dropped from a $ 17.4-billion appropriations bill for the State , Justice and Commerce departments . Even if the prohibition survives , Secretary of Commerce Robert A. Mosbacher has said that he would ask President Bush to veto any bill that comes to his desk with such a provision . At stake are the number of seats in Congress for California , Florida , New York , Illinois , Pennsylvania and other states that will be reapportioned on the basis of next year 's census . Federal aid to states also is frequently based on population counts , so millions of dollars in grants and other funds made available on a per capita basis would be affected . The issue cuts across partisan lines in the Senate , with Minority Leader Bob Dole -LRB- R-Kan . -RRB- arguing against the White House position on grounds that including illegal aliens in the census is unfair to American citizens . Loss of Seats Cited `` Some states will lose congressional seats because of illegal aliens , '' Dole argued . Sen. Thad Cochran -LRB- R-Miss . -RRB- said that Georgia and Indiana both lost House seats after the 1980 Census , and California and New York -- centers of illegal immigration -- each gained seats . `` The bottom line is illegal aliens ought to be deported , not counted , '' Cochran said . Sen. Pete Wilson -LRB- R-Calif . -RRB- countered that excluding illegal residents from the decennial census is unfair to the states that have suffered from a huge influx of immigration beyond the legal limits . `` There are enormous additional costs for states who have had a surge of population , '' Wilson said , adding that those states should receive additional federal aid to cope with the added problems . Opponents of a ban on counting illegal aliens said that a ban is impractical because the Census Bureau already has printed questionnaires that do not contain any question about legality of residence . For 190 years , said Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan -LRB- D-N.Y. -RRB- , the federal government has counted all inhabitants without regard to citizenship in accordance with the Constitution 's provisions . `` Fiddling with the numbers '' now will destroy confidence in the census results , he added . The Senate 's action was sharply criticized by Undersecretary of Commerce Michael Darby , but he voiced hope that it would be reversed by a Senate-House conference . `` There really is a widespread realization that this would not only be unconstitutional but literally impossible , '' Darby said . But he added that he is `` optimistic , cautiously optimistic , '' that House conferees would resist the Senate-approved ban and not force Bush to veto the legislation . Mario Moreno , head of the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund , said he was shocked by the Senate 's decision . `` It is going to have a dramatic and disastrous impact in the Hispanic community , '' Moreno said . `` People are going to be discouraged from participating . '' A Census Bureau spokesman took a more dispassionate view , however . `` Our position is that we count everybody at their place of residence , '' said bureau spokesman James Gorman . `` If Congress passes a law that says we will or will not count people , we will do what it says . ''
extractive_keyphrases: illegal aliens 1990 population count illegal immigrants congressional seats house seats census bureau voice vote prohibition federal aid appropriations bill