Representative Adriano Espaillat Leads Congressional Colleagues in Letter to U.S. Census Bureau Calling for Extension of 2020 Census Amid Coronavirus

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Representative Adriano Espaillat (NY-13), who serves as Whip of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC), led several of his CHC colleagues in a letter to Dr. Steven Dillingham, Director of the United States Census Bureau, to call for an extension of the 2020 census.

"As Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, we respectfully urge you and to extend the 2020 Census enumeration by three months ending October 31, 2020. Given the grave concern for public health and well-being we have for our constituents and communities regarding the impacts of the novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19), we believe that this is a necessary measure to protect both American citizens and the integrity of the Census. The public health emergency impacting all areas of this country threatens the ability of the Census Bureau to safely and fully conduct the decennial census. Given the instructions and recommendations of the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to avoid direct contact with symptomatic persons and the known method of COVID-19 transmission from person-to-person, we foresee that adhering to these principles will limit the ability of enumerators to undertake the non-response follow-up process and will hamper the participation of Americans nationwide. This will particularly impact the ability of the Census Bureau to reach individuals in already hard to count and undercounted communities," stated the members in the letter.

In addition to Rep. Espaillat, the letter was signed by the following members: Rep. Veronica Escobar (TX-16), Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva (AZ-03), Rep. Jim Costa (CA-16), Rep. Juan Vargas (CA-51),Rep. Ruben Gallego (AZ-07),Rep. Jesús G. "Chuy" García (IL-04), Rep. Gilbert R. Cisneros (CA-39), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14),Rep. Ben Ray Luján (NM-03),Rep. Sylvia Garcia (TX-29), and Rep. Vicente Gonzalez (TX-15).

Click here to read the letter in its entirety.

Earlier this week, Rep. Espaillat spoke on the House floor where he expressed concerns about the 2020 Census amid challenges with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and called for the census to be extended an additional three months to ensure an accurate count. Watch video

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First elected to Congress in 2016, Rep. Adriano Espaillat is serving his second term in Congress where he serves as a member of the influential U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee, the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and the House Small Business Committee. He serves as a Senior Whip of the House Democratic Caucus and is a member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) where he also serves in a leadership role as CHC Whip. He is also chairman of the CHC Task Force for Transportation, Infrastructure and Housing. Rep. Espaillat's Congressional District includes Harlem, East Harlem, northern Manhattan and the north-west Bronx. To find out more about Rep. Espaillat, visit online at /.

Media inquiries: Candace Randle Person at Candace.Person@mail.house.gov