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Congressman warns of 'Big Brother dossier'

Bill would ensure citizens aren't forced to take extended Census survey

Posted: July 14, 2009
11:05 pm Eastern
By Jerome R. Corsi
© 2009 WorldNetDaily

The Obama administration's extended Census survey intended for 3 million people is a plan to create a "government dossier on American citizens," charges a Texas congressman who has introduced a bill to make the lengthy questionnaire voluntary.

"The federal government has a constitutional duty to count the number of people in the United States every 10 years," Poe told WND, "but the federal government has no business keeping a comprehensive personal profile on every American citizen."

Poe fears the government can use the American Community Survey questionnaire to compile detailed information about individuals and "use that information for its own purposes."

"This is Big-Brother at its worst," he said.

Poe's bill, H.R. 3131, is co-sponsored by Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., who has announced she will not complete the census this year.

Bachman told the Washington Times she will only disclose the number of people in her household when responding to the 2010 census She fears ACORN, the community organizing group currently under indictment in several states for alleged voter registration fraud, will be part of the Census Bureau's door-to-door information collection efforts under the direction of the White House.

"A lot of Americans – myself included – have real concerns about the ultimate protection of our sensitive personal information," Bachmann told WND in an e-mail. "I am proud to partner with my colleague, Rep. Poe, on this important initiative that respects the American people's privacy."

WND contacted the White House press office for comment on this story but received no response.

The American Community Survey asks 11-pages of additional questions designed to supplement the 2010 Census all Americans will be asked to complete.

The first section of the ACS asks for the full name of each person living in the household, the total number of people in the household, how the people are related to each other, the date of birth of each person in the household, the sex and race of each person in the household and whether any of the people in the household are of Hispanic, Latino or Spanish origin.

The second section surveys housing, asking whether the household lives in a mobile home, a one-family detached home, a one-family home attached to one or more houses, an apartment or a boat, RV or van.

Then the ACS asks what year the building was built, when "Person No. 1" from the housing section moved into the home; how many acres the home is on; what agricultural products were sold from the property in the last 12 months; whether the property was used as a business; how many separate rooms are in the house; whether the house has hot and cold running water; whether the house has a flush toilet, a shower or bathtub, a sink with a faucet, a stove or range, a refrigerator, and a telephone; how many cars, vans and trucks are kept at the property; and what fuel is most used at the property – gas, electricity, fuel oil or kerosene, coal or coke, wood, solar energy, or "other."

Further, the housing section asks what was last month's bill for energy, the cost of water and sewage for the housing unit in the last year, whether anyone in the household received food stamps in the last year, the monthly rental or mortgage cost of the unit, an estimate of the resale value of the housing unit, the unit's annual property taxes, and the annual cost of fire, hazard and flood insurance on the property.

Person No. 1 in the household, the ACS wants to know if that person is a citizen, if the person was born in the U.S. or when the person came to the U.S.; whether the person had attended college in the last three years and what is the highest level of education completed; the person's ancestry or ethnic origin; whether the person speaks a language other than English at home, and if yes, what language; whether the person lived in the housing unit or an apartment a year ago; whether the person is covered by health insurance, and if so, by what type of health insurance.

Next, Person No. 1 must answer if he/she is deaf or has difficulty hearing; if the person is blind or has serious difficulty seeing even when wearing glasses; if the person has difficulty concentrating, remembering or making decisions because of a physical, mental or emotional condition; whether the person has serious difficulty walking or climbing stairs; whether the person has difficulty bathing or dressing; whether the person has difficulty doing errands alone such as visiting a doctor's office or shopping because of a physical, mental, or emotional condition; what is the person's marital status; whether the person has given birth to any children in the past 12 months; whether the person has any grandchildren under the age of 18 in the house or apartment; whether the person has ever served on active duty in the U.S. armed forces; whether the person has a Veterans Administration service-connected disability rating, and if yes, what percentage is the VA disability rating.

The ACS also asks whether Person No. 1 worked last week for pay; at what address, town, city and country did the person work last week; how did the person get to work and if by car, bus, railroad, taxi, motorcycle, bicycle or on foot; whether the person, if unemployed, has been actively looking for work in the past four weeks; whether the person, if unemployed, was available to start work if offered a job or recalled to work in the past week; and how many weeks the person worked in the past year and how many hours per week.

Finally, Person No. 1 must disclose whether their most recent work was for a private for-profit company, a private not-for-profit, a local government, a state government, or the federal government, or whether the person was self employed in their own incorporated or not-incorporated business, or whether the person worked without pay in a family business or on the family farm; the name of the employer; the type of business; whether the business was manufacturing, wholesale trade, retail trade, or other; the exact job description of the person and their most important duties; their income over the past 12 months and the amount of that income that came from wages, salary, commission, bonuses or tips; whether the person received any Social Security or Railroad Retirement benefits, or any other type of public assistance in the past 12 months; and the person's entire income over the past 12 months, both from employment or public welfare sources.

The American Community Survey is available in English or Spanish on the Census Bureau's website. http://www.census.gov/acs/www/SBasics/S ... Quest1.htm