Pelosi Says Trump Seeks to ‘Make America White Again’ in Census

(Bloomberg) -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi accused President Donald Trump’s administration Monday of wanting to “make America white again” with its plan to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census.

“You know his hat? ‘Make America white again.’ They want to make sure that people, certain people, are counted,” Pelosi said at a press conference on election security. “It’s really disgraceful and it’s not what our founders had in mind.”

Pelosi said the goal of the Trump administration is “self-evident” to have “a chilling effect” so certain populations will not respond to the census.

Pelosi previously called Trump’s proposed immigration overhaul a “make America white again” plan.

She added that Democrats were fighting for an accurate census count and are seeking enough funding for outreach to ensure everyone is counted.

Democrats are also seeking to enforce subpoenas for information on the census. The House Oversight and Reform Committee voted last month to hold Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in contempt for withholding documents. Pelosi said in a letter to Democratic colleagues Monday that the full House would “be moving forward soon” on the matter.

Barr was quoted by the Associated Press Monday as saying he sees a way to legally include a citizenship question on the 2020 census following a Supreme Court ruling against the Trump administration. He called the court ruling “wrong,” according to the AP.

Barr didn’t explain how the administration could get around the court ruling, the AP said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Steven T. Dennis in Washington at sdennis17@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Kevin Whitelaw at kwhitelaw@bloomberg.net, Laurie Asséo, Anna Edgerton

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.