Not a single House Democrat voted for a bill to add a question regarding citizenship to the census questionnaire that passed the lower chamber on Wednesday.
The Equal Representation Act received the support of 206 Republicans while 202 Democrats put forth a “nay” vote. Twenty-two members, 11 Republicans and 11 Democrats abstained from the vote.
The bill, introduced
by Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-NC), would require the inclusion of a citizenship question on the decennial census from the year 2030. It also requires that the apportionment of House representatives and electoral votes be modified to exclude non citizens.
In a statement championing the legislation, Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-KY) highlighted how the “Biden Administration’s open border policies have created the worst border crisis in American history, impacting every American.”
According to Comer, the bill is part of steps the House is taking “to proactively protect a fair electoral process.”
However, the census questionnaire bill has been opposed publicly by Democrats, with Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, arguing against the census questionnaire legislation by claiming that it goes against the 14th Amendment.
“The Fourteenth Amendment makes the census and reapportionment apply to ‘all persons.’ Constitutional originalists, textualists and followers of precedent must reject unlawful GOP attempts to confine the census and Congressional apportionment to citizens,” he wrote in a post to X.
Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-IL) also criticized the bill in a post, writing, “Today, Republicans forced a vote on H.R. 7109, an unconstitutional bill intended to make people afraid and to discourage their participation in the Census. H.R. 1709 ultimately undercounts, underrepresents, and underfunds communities like ours, #IL03. I VOTED NO.”
Despite passing the House, the legislation still has one massive hurdle to jump in the Democrat-controlled Senate. In a bid to get more people to see the use of the bill, Stephen Miller, who served as a senior adviser to former President Donald Trump tweeted, “House Seats and Electoral College votes WILL BE added to areas with the most illegals (including all Biden illegals) unless [the] Senate passes the bill.” He added, “Invasion by design.”
