House Republicans suggest possible 'White House interference' in census, citing 'questionable' data

House Republicans are querying the Biden administration on what they claim may have been  interference from the White House in the 2020 census data, citing "questionable" properties of that data.

Nearly 20 House Republicans on the House Oversight Committee released a letter Friday sent to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. In the letter, the lawmakers say they are addressing “concerns about the apportionment count released by the U.S. Census Bureau” this week.

"Given the extra time it took to complete the 2020 Census — including not meeting the statutory deadlines by months — we have questions about the methodology and the role the Biden White House may have played in releasing these numbers," the letter says, "especially as the results differ from evaluation estimates released mere months ago in ways that benefit blue states over red states."

The Republicans write that the "apportionment population results released by the Census Bureau are strikingly different from the population evaluation estimates released just months ago on December 22, 2020." They claim that "the differences benefit traditionally blue states — which gained population compared to the estimates — over red states which tended to lose population compared to the estimates."

The letter, which claims that including illegal immigrants in the national count may have skewed the numbers, makes over half a dozen document requests from the Biden administration, including communications between employees of the Census Bureau and the Executive Office of the President. 

The letter instructs Raimondo to comply by no later than May 15.