Trump official acknowledges: Congress has final say on census
SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
It's TRUMP'S TERMS from NPR. I'm Scott Detrow.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We're going to be doing all sorts of things nobody ever thought was even possible.
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TRUMP: This will be an entirely different country in a short period of time.
DETROW: Each episode, we bring you NPR's coverage of President Trump acting on his own terms, and that means sometimes doing things that no American president has tried before. NPR is covering it all in stories like the one you are about to hear right after this.
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A MARTÍNEZ, BYLINE: I'm A Martínez. NPR has learned new details about how the Census Bureau is responding to President Trump's call for a new census. That call comes as Trump keeps pushing some states to use census data to redraw voting maps and help Republicans keep control of the U.S. House of Representatives. Here's NPR's Hansi Lo Wang.
HANSI LO WANG, BYLINE: This week, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who oversees the Census Bureau, acknowledged that Congress - not Trump - has final say of the population count that's used to determine each state's share of seats in the House of Representatives. That's according to three bureau employees who heard a town hall event with Lutnick and asked not to be named because they fear retaliation. Some House Republicans have recently proposed changing census law...
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MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE: Well, I was talking with President Trump on the phone...
WANG: ...Including representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia.
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GREENE: ...And I told him that my idea is to have a bill that immediately calls for a new census.
WANG: Speaking with the right-wing media outlet Real America's Voice, Greene also called for a new distribution of House seats and round of redistricting before next year's midterm election.
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TRUMP: Well, I'll speak for both of us. We love it.
WANG: Last month, President Trump publicly backed Greene's bill, along with Florida's Republican governor, Ron DeSantis...
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RON DESANTIS: I know they've considered doing another census.
WANG: ...Who has said the Trump administration has thought about counting before the next scheduled tally in 2030.
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DESANTIS: 'Cause I think you have to do it once every 10 years. It doesn't mean you can't do it more than every 10 years under the Constitution.
WANG: Any attempt at a census before 2030 would likely be challenged in court. Trump and other Republicans are calling to alter census numbers that the 14th Amendment says must include the, quote, "whole number of persons in each state" by excluding some or all residents without U.S. citizenship.
SOPHIA LIN LAKIN: We won't hesitate to go back to court to protect representation for all communities.
WANG: Sophia Lin Lakin of the American Civil Liberties Union says she'll be monitoring the Trump administration's next census moves. So far, the Commerce Department says the Census Bureau will use, quote, "modern technology tools" to analyze data in response to Trump's recent call.
Hansi Lo Wang, NPR News.
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