Comer Continues Oversight of U.S. Census Bureau After Significant Errors in 2020 Census Revealed

WASHINGTON––House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) is continuing oversight of the U.S. Census Bureau (Bureau) to ensure that future censuses are conducted to the highest standards. The Bureau’s Post-Enumeration Survey (PES) following the 2020 Census revealed significant errors in undercounting and overcounting of states’ populations. In a letter to Acting Director of the Bureau, George Cook, Chairman Comer highlights the Committee’s continual need to conduct oversight of the Bureau and requests documents and information on measures the Bureau is taking in its testing and preparation of the 2030 Census to avoid repetition of these errors.

“Because of the 2020 Census’ failure to produce accurate state-by-state counts in the apportionment of congressional seats, Colorado wrongly gained a seat, Rhode Island and Minnesota kept seats they should have lost, and Texas and Florida were not awarded seats they should have gained. Such miscounts clearly are avoidable, as no states had significant miscounts in the 2010 Census,” wrote Chairman Comer. “Furthermore, the Bureau’s partnerships with certain organizations in 2020 cast doubt on the reliability of the 2020 Census results. The Bureau enlisted many partner organizations to facilitate aspects of the enumeration process for the 2020 Census. Statements made by leaders of some of these organizations raise serious questions about those organizations’ ability to remain non-partisan and unbiased in their involvement with the census.”

The House Oversight Committee began conducting oversight of the U.S. Census Bureau in September 2024 and held ahearing on December 5, 2024 with then-Bureau Director Robert Santos. In a letter sent to former Director Santos, the Committee had requested documents and communications related to identified errors and deficiencies that led to the inaccurate 2020 decennial census count. While there were no significant miscounts in the 2010 Census, the Bureau’s 2020 PES identified significant errors in numerous states which raised concerns about political bias in the process. The PES identified the majority of overcounts occurred in Democrat-leaning states, while the majority of undercounts occurred in Republican-leaning states. 

“The Committee has already taken multiple steps to investigate what went wrong during the 2020 Census and the erroneous apportionment of congressional seats that followed it. The Bureau, however, was less than fully cooperative with the Committee during President Biden’s administration,” concluded Chairman Comer. “Director Santos confirmed that a substantial part of the 2020 Census was based on estimates and said that he would provide documentation to the Committee detailing the basis for estimates. However, the Bureau failed to provide that information to the Committee before Director Santos left office. Director Santos also said that he would be happy to provide the Committee with a full briefing on the Census Bureau’s estimate methodologies. He failed to provide that briefing.” 

Read the letter to the U.S. Census Bureau here.