A few weeks ago, Michele Bachmann (R-Crazytown) indicated she would not fill out her Census form because of some bizarre ACORN-related ideas.
Bachmann explained that her fears over the Census were in large part due to the fact that her Number-One Enemy, ACORN, could possibly be involved.
As a result, she was denigrated even by her fellow Republican wingnuts in Congress.
"Boycotting the constitutionally mandated Census is illogical, illegal and not in the best interest of our country," said Reps. Patrick McHenry (N.C.), Lynn Westmoreland (Ga.) and John Mica (Fla.), members of the Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Information Policy, Census, and National Archives in a statement Wednesday.
Now she and Ted Poe (R-TX) have introduced a law to curtail the American Community Survey (ACS), the Census's annual data gathering survey that supplements the decennial Census.
"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," she said in a statement. "A lot of Americans — myself included — have real concerns about the ultimate protection of our sensitive personal information."
This despite the fact that individual-level Census data remain sealed for 70 years following their collection.
The ACS provides much-needed intercensal estimates and projections of population and demographic changes that allow cities, counties and communities to estimate and plan for growth and services needed. These data are used by everyone from city planners to demographers, social scientists, companies doing market research, and various other groups. It collects such "sensitive" data as the respondent's journey to work (important for public transportation and city planning), age (to help determine services needed for children), income and housing (to allow organizations to plan for housing and other services needed for low-income people), and military service (to provide information needed by the VA).
The proposed bill
would reduce the response to the survey to four questions: Name, contact information, date of response, and number of people living or staying at the same address.
The GOP's war on information continues.