HARTFORD, Conn — The Trump administration is setting a cut-off date for the U.S. census, so that the information can be passed over to Congress.
This comes after a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to allow the census count to stop.
State and local officials say this decision puts Connecticut in a fight for federal dollars and they need you ( the people) to act now.
Some state and local officials reacting to the news.
Hartford’s mayor, Luke Bronin said, “The census has never been before a partisan thing, it is never been a thing where a presidential administration has tried to attack or undermine, but that’s what’s happening right now.”
Before Mayor Bronin spoke the Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut and Deputy Attorney General also held a press conference urging state residents to get counted.
The state’s Deputy Attorney General Margaret Chapple said, “The Census Bureau for field operations testified that it was ludicrous to expect the bureau to complete 100 percent of the nation’s data collection earlier than October 31st. In the middle of a pandemic.”
It’s during these stressful times that officials urge people to get themselves counted.
“Do it for your family, do it for your community, stand up and say we will be counted,” said Mayor Bronin.
There is a big push for Hartford due to the capitol city’s low response rate of 48-percent which is a stark difference compared to the state’s estimated 70-percent.
Officials explain that the government uses the census as the official count to decide federal spending and how many congressional seats a state may get.
The lieutenant governor also adding programs that will be at-risk which supports vulnerable communities.
Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewiscz said, “Like SNAP, Medicaid, WIC, and Head Start, federal school lunch and breakfast programs and the like.”
Officials warn if a person doesn’t fill out the form Connecticut could lose thousands if not millions of dollars in resources.
The state gets an estimated 11-billion dollars in federal funding due to the census.
The city of Hartford’s department of public health says to make things even more urgent as COVID-19 numbers spike the state will need more resources to fight the pandemic which some money will come to the region based on the census.
“This our opportunity to say that we’re here 10 sure that we have the resources, to recover from the pandemic to ensure that our voices are heard, to ensure sure that this pandemic doesn’t cause more harm to us,” said Liany Arroyo, who is Hartford’s Director of Public Health.
People have until 6 a.m. on October 16th to fill out the census; It takes less than 10 minutes to complete.