Supreme Court Sets Date for Oral Arguments At Hearing, Rep. Miller Says Sampling OK for Federal Aid, Not Apportionment; Rep. Maloney Presses Critics for Undercount Remedies Stakeholders Renew Call for Full Funding or Veto; Senate Schedules Prewitt Nomination Hearing The United States Supreme Court announced today that it would hear oral arguments in the case of U.S. House of Representatives v. U.S. Department of Commerce, on November 30. A special three-judge federal district court ruled in the case last month that the Census Act barred the use of sampling and statistical methods to derive the census counts used for congressional apportionment. Congress provided for a speedy review of census challenges and a direct appeal to the Supreme Court. Both sides in the case had asked the high court to review the case quickly. At a hearing on Wednesday, the chairman of the House census subcommittee called on the Census Bureau to abandon a census plan that includes sampling to produce population counts for congressional apportionment but suggested that scientific methods could be used to produce data for distributing federal aid. Rep. Dan Miller (R-FL) also said it would be "unwise" to delay a final decision on the use of sampling until the Supreme Court rules on the constitutionality and legality of the methods. He said it is time "to put the 'issue' of sampling to bed." Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), who supports the Bureau's census plan, challenged the chairman "to propose a credible alternative" that will reduce the undercount. The subcommittee's senior Democrat chided panel Republicans for suggesting counting options, such as administrative records, without exposing the methods to a thorough review. She also accused sampling critics of having a "political agenda," citing a fundraising letter for a court challenge against sampling that included a Republican National Committee memo about the potential loss of Republican legislative seats if the Bureau's plan goes forward. Reps. Miller and Maloney made their remarks at a hearing yesterday to review the Census Bureau's effort to prepare for a census without sampling methods. Under Secretary of Commerce Robert Shapiro told the subcommittee that any lapse in funding for census preparations would put the entire census "at grave risk" by delaying completion of address lists, questionnaire printing, and opening of local offices. Mr. Shapiro noted that failure to reach agreement on the Bureau's 1999 funding bill by October 1 (the start of the fiscal year) could lead to a temporary funding measure that only allows spending at current levels (known as a Continuing Resolution). Without a steady increase in funds leading up to the actual census, the Bureau would be forced to lay off 22,000 address list employees immediately, he said. Mr. Shapiro also warned that the $476 million allocated by the House for 2000 census work through March 31, 1999 would only last through January, resulting in delays of all census preparations. Mr. Shapiro promised to present a full plan for a traditional census in November but cautioned that the Administration is likely to request additional funds in 1999 if it is required to proceed with that plan. Chairman Miller pledged to help ensure that the Census Bureau would be exempt from spending caps in a temporary funding measure and that it would receive sufficient funds to continue preparations on schedule through March 31. Acting Census Bureau Director James Holmes noted in his testimony that most of the Bureau's pre-census work and funds were devoted to activities that were needed for a census with or without sampling methods. He said the Bureau had created 20 teams to explore options for a nonsampling census, including the use of administrative records, staffing needs for door-to-door visits to all unresponsive households, and targeting replacement forms to historically low-response communities. Stakeholders Call for Full Funding: At a Washington press conference on Tuesday, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights released a letter to Congress from Americans for a Fair and Accurate Census, calling for full, uninterrupted funding for 2000 census preparations. The coalition of religious and civil rights groups, children's and women's advocates, scientific associations, and local government officials said it would ask the President to veto any spending measure that limits funding to six months. Leaders of the National Council of La Raza, the Council of Great City Schools, and the Children's Defense Fund also spoke at the press event. The latter organization released a new analysis of how the undercount of children in 1990 affected education in 195 cities and counties across the country. According to the post-census survey conducted by the Census Bureau in 1990, 52 percent of those missed in the census were children. At yesterday's congressional hearing, Chairman Miller admonished the stakeholder groups for "blindly supporting an Administration on the brink of ruin" and not working with Congress to improve the census count without using sampling. The chairman, extending a self-described "olive branch," said he hoped stakeholders would help devise other ways to reach hard-to-count communities. Congressional hearings: The House Subcommittee on the Census will hold another hearing to review the proposed use of sampling in the 2000 census, focusing on the Integrated Coverage Measurement program. The hearing is scheduled for September 17, at 10:00 a.m., in 2154 Rayburn House Office Building. Census Bureau Director news: The Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs, chaired by Sen. Fred Thompson (R-TN), will hold a hearing on the nomination of Dr. Kenneth Prewitt to be director of the Census Bureau. President Clinton nominated Dr. Prewitt, who heads the Social Science Research Council in New York City, in June. The hearing is scheduled for September 17, at 10:00 a.m. in 342 Dirksen Senate Office Building. Census 2000 Initiative Web Site: The Census 2000 Initiative is pleased to announce that its web site is up and running. The site includes current and past News Alerts, fact sheets on key census policy issues, links to web sites for census stakeholder organizations, and a calendar of official census-related meetings and hearings. We hope you will visit our new site at <http://www.census2000.org>. Questions about the information contained in this News Alert may be directed to TerriAnn Lowenthal at (202) 484-2270 or, by e-mail at &lt;terriann2k(a)aol.com&gt;om>. Please direct all requests to receive News Alerts, and all changes in address/phone/fax/e-mail, to Keri Monihan at &lt;kmonihan(a)ccmc.org&gt; or 202/326-8728. Please feel free to circulate this information to colleagues and other interested individuals.