MicEvHill.Com - Senate Votes to Block Consideration of Vitter Census and Immigration Status Amendment

Senate Blocks Consideration of Vitter/Bennett Census and Immigration Status Amendment to the C-J-S Bill

By Micheal E. Hill
Friday, November 6, 2009 - 9:34 am EST

The Senate yesterday used a procedural maneuver to block consideration of a proposal by Senators David Vitter (R-LA) and Robert Bennett (R-UT) to deny noncitizens representation in the U.S. House of Representatives. The Senate acted on Thursday, November 5, 2009, invoking cloture by a vote of 60-39 on the bill to which Senators Vitter and Bennett had sought to attach their proposal. In order to prevail on the procedural motion, the Senate Democratic Leadership needed the votes of 60 senators. They achieved that number, with no votes to spare.

Senator Vitter had stated that he intended to use any data gained by citizenship or immigration census questions asked pursuant to his amendment to ensure that noncitizens are not represented in the United States House of Representatives.

The Vitter/Bennett proposal was embodied in an amendment that the two senators sought to offer to the Senate Appropriations Committee-reported version of H.R. 2847, the Fiscal Year 2010 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act (C-J-S Appropriations Bill). The amendment would have required the Census Bureau to ask every person in the United States about his or her citizenship and immigration status. Following the Senate's vote on blocking the Vitter/Bennett amendment, the Senate went on to pass the underlying measure by a vote of 71-28.

Opposition to the Amendment
The Vitter/Bennett amendment was vigorously opposed by the Administration, former census bureau directors of both parties, Democratic leaders in the House, rank-and-file Democratic Members from the three minority caucuses in the House, and by much of the immigrant, civil rights, and minority communities:

Senator Mary Landrieu. Senator Vitter's fellow homestate senator, Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA), has expressed her opposition to the Vitter/Bennett amendment, saying in a letter to him that it is unconstitutional, contending that it would cost the country $1 BILLION to administer, denying that the amendment would prevent Louisiana from losing a seat in Congress, and accusing her colleague of engaging in "political gamesmanship."
House Majority Leader Hoyer. Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) recently blasted the Vitter/Bennett amendment, saying that "the census doesn't exist to score political points -- It exists to give us an accurate picture of our country." He went on to assert that "adding a new question to the census, especially at this late date, would be damaging and irresponsible. That's also the opinion of every living Director of the Census." Continuing, the House Majority Leader said that the Vitter/Bennett amendment would "lead to an inaccurate count. With a question about citizenship, immigrants who fear being deported, along with their families and friends, are much more likely to avoid the census."
Congressional Hispanic Caucus. The Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC), Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), and the Congressional Asian and Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) all have expressed opposition to the Vitter/Bennett amendment. Said CHC Chair Nydia Velazquez, "[e]very census since 1790 has included citizens and noncitizens alike, and presidential administrations of both parties have repeatedly upheld counting all persons residing in the United States."
Census Bureau. The Department of Commerce, which administers the U.S. Census Bureau, has said of the Vitter/Bennett amendment, “[a]dding a new question to the 2010 Census questionnaire less than six months before Census Day (April 1, 2010) would mean the Census Bureau could not complete the enumeration, processing, and deliver of census results by the statutory deadline of December 31, 2010. It is too late to shift gears at this point in the process.”
Former Census Chiefs. A bipartisan group of eight former Census Bureau chiefs also has weighed-in against the amendment, saying that “[a]dding a new census question now would require redesigning and reformatting questionnaires and all related materials, such as language assistance guides and web-based instructions; redesigning instructions and training manuals for more than a million temporary census workers; reconfiguring or rebuilding data capture and processing software, which is designed for the specific questionnaire already in place; and revising a $400 million outreach and promotional campaign, much of it already deployed, which highlights the new short form’s ten questions and often confirms that the census does not ask about immigration status.”

Vitter Pressed On, Despite Opposition

Notwithstanding the opposition of the Obama Administration, former census chiefs, and others, however, Senators Vitter and Bennett have persisted in their support for their amendment. "Illegal immigration is a very real and significant concern for our country," Senator Vitter said in a statement. "In the past, some states have included illegal immigrants during the census, resulting in the allocation of additional congressional seats. We shouldn't let these states be rewarded for skirting our federal laws." Senator Bennett, too, has explicitly stated his intention that the census data gleaned from the question should be used to ensure that illegal immigrants are not counted for the purposes of representation in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Other Immigration-Related Amendments

Once cloture was invoked on H.R. 25847, the Senate wet on to consider other amendments to the bill. It only considered one immigration-related amendment :

INCREASED FUNDING FOR SCAAP AMENDMENT. Senator John Ensign (R-NV) offered an amendment (Senate Amendment Number 2648) that would have increased funding in the bill for the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP) by $172 MILLION.

The Senate rejected the Ensign SCAAP Amendment by a vote of 32-67.

Senate Floor Consideration Thus Far

The Senate took up H.R. 2847 beginning on Monday, October 5, 2009. It had it under consideration off-and-on throughout that week.

On October 7, 2009, the Senate rejected a proposal that sought to bar funding to state and local governments that have policies restricting communications between their local law enforcement agencies and Department of Homeland Security enforcement personnel. On that same day, Senators David Vitter and Bennett offered their amendment to require the 2010 decennial census enumeration to ask every person living in the United States about their citizenship and immigration status.

The Senate briefly resumed consideration of H.R. 2847 on October 13, 2009, when Senate Majority Leader Reid attempted to shut off debate on the measure and bar nongermane amendments (including the Vitter/Bennett Amendment) from being offered to it. However, that attempt failed by three votes. Following his failure to shut off debate on the measure, Majority Leader Reid pulled the bill from the floor.

The following lists the immigration-related votes that occurred during the Senate's consideration of H.R. 2847:

VITTER SANCTUARY AMENDMENT. On Wednesday, October 7, 2009, Senator David Vitter (D-LA) offered Senate Amendment Number 2630 to H.R. 2847, the Fiscal Year 2010 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill. The amendment would have to barred Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) funding to jurisdictions that have a "sanctuary" policy barring local law enforcement personnel from communicating with Department of Homeland Security enforcement personnel.

The Senate tabled (killed) the Vitter Sanctuary Amendment by a vote of 61-38.

FIRST MOTION TO INVOKE CLOTURE. On Tuesday, October 13, 2009, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) moved to invoke cloture on H.R. 2847, a procedural tactic that would have shut off debate on the measure and barred nongermane amendments from being offered to the bill.

The Senate failed to invoke cloture by a vote of 56-38 (60 votes were necessary to invoke cloture)

SECOND MOTION TO INVOKE CLOTURE. On Thursday, November 5, 2009, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) moved for a re-vote of the october 13, 2009, vote by which the Senate failed to invoke cloture on H.R. 2847.

The Senate invoked cloture by a vote of 60-39 (60 votes were necessary to invoke cloture)

INCREASED FUNDING FOR SCAAP AMENDMENT. On Thursday, November 5, 2009, the Senate rejected an amendment offered by Senator John Ensign (R-NV) (Senate Amendment Number 2648) that would have increased funding in the bill for the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP) by $172 MILLION.

The Senate rejected the Ensign SCAAP Amendment by a vote of 32-67.

Next Steps. Now that the Senate has passed H.R. 2847, the next step in the legislative process is the convening of a conference committee between the House and Senate to resolve differences between the two versions of the measure.