To the subcommittee as well as the oversight committee. We are delighted to have you. Lets see. Without objection i want to wave onto the subcommittee, stephen horseford from nevada who wanted to ask questions. By unanimous consent we grant that privilege. I want to thank witnesses for their ongoing cooperation, you and your staff have been truly excellent partners in this oversight process. Thank you for your work, i learned from my district staff, you toward Silver Spring in montgomery county, maryland, these are diverse high density areas with high concentration of immigrants where a variety of languages are spoken and i appreciate your coming out to take out our community, my district director kevin connor met with your staff and was encouraged by the bureaus preparation so i thank you and your staff for your hard work. We have a lot to accomplish before 2020. We were embroiled in a battle over the Citizenship Question. Now that the administration is forced to stand down, the effort getting us back on track and conducting a completed document account in 2020. The move to impose the business question has been rejected by the courts arbitrary position, there may still be endangering an accurate count in 2020. Im eager to hear about aggressive steps the bureau can take to repair the damage caused by this all considered campaign. Every 10 years the bureau struggles to count everybody in america according to constitutional directives. Some communities including communities of immigrants and people of color are chronically undercounted and they do not receive their fair share of Government Resources in everything from federal and state legislative representation to medicaid and head start. So theres a lot of fear in our communities that we have to strive to overcome. The Citizenship Question the president s executive order and his immigration policies and the threatened raids all strike fear in the hearts of many of the communities that are already mistrustful of government. Even though the question will not be on the 2020 census there is a test in the field where 240,000 families are being asked the Citizenship Question, why is that . This decision to post this Citizenship Question to hundreds of thousands of people after the Supreme Court rejected it seems hard to reconcile with the reality of the Supreme Court decision and the unbroken defeat of the question in the lower district court. So now we face the threat of prolonged confusion and i do hope we can talk about that. The bureau must out by specific steps its taking to increase outreach to the committees whose participation has been true, must reassure every of the confidentiality of the Data Collected and reaffirm its commitment the census data will not be used for Law Enforcement purposes. It must clarify the impact of the president s executive order on the confidentiality in use of census data that it must identify specific actions it will take to differentiate itself from Law Enforcement in the field. In light of the damage done i think the bureau should increase outreach to hard to count communities instead of sitting on 1 billion in appropriate funds. This should the bureau told congress it tends to carry over a billion dollars to fy 20, instead of spinning this year. Why is that . I fail to see compelling reason for the delay. The bureau relax a little Partnership Specialist great relationships in hard to count communities but it is too much band and filling 1500 1500 metaphysicians reportedly due to a backlog in background checks but we cant afford this delay. Census staff is also begin knocking on doors. Shouldnt that be will be using leftover funds with the existing funds to clear the backlog Court Earlier this year the House Appropriations report ordered the group to improve its communication strategy and to open Questionnaire Assistance Centers to reach communities missed in the bureaus counts. Qac is will provide reliable locations and how did hard to tempt me to what people can seek assistance from staff. Qac is on the costa bureau 27 million in 2010. Why is that youre using the carryover funds to open uacs as directed by congress but the bureau has been underfunded for many years now that its been granted until the budget it using to spend it. Outreach should be fully funded now. Finally the bureau should improve its processes for tracking security recommendations to safeguard data and avoid missing key deadlines. Im a larger the commerce Inspector General recently found the bureaus i. T. Systems contained fundamental security deficiencies that it violated federal standards indicating the bureau is been scheduled though it systems for 2020. This is a common thing. Channel has noted the bureau is on schedule resolving 100 for high risk or very high Risk Security full abilities and there is no schedule process for implementing security recommendations that were rendered by the department of Homeland Security. That is not acceptable. The bureau is home to one of the largest databases of identify personal information on American People. The security of this date is panama that onto a wellrun census but to the publics confidence. I trust the gaos recommendations for the bureau to get back on track and i look for to hearing its plans for that today. Now i happily will yield to the Ranking Member of the committee, my friend mr. Mattis. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you for calling the string. Obviously this is not the first hearing we had on the census, decennial census is something that we that under this administration and under the Previous Administration will be that timelines that we been working on since dr. Dillingham can we look for to hearing from you in terms of how were making progress. I do want to offer, this is mr. Goldenkoff at least ninth hearing i think is a look at this particular issue because i know when i i was chairman of e Government Operations subcommittee, this is critical importance that we get it done right, its a whether its this administration or the prior administration, my fear had been and continues to be, are we going to do those cybersecurity issues and into in testing to make sure we can count on that on the privacy that the chairman talked about but the integrity of the system . I will also offer a little bit of a counter narrative. We have spent way too much time on the Citizenship Question. Its time to get serious about implementing this and candidly, any direction that we continue to maintain as a relates to the Citizenship Question is problematic in terms of delivering and actually counting those individuals. I also know theres a strong outreach. Dr. Dillingham, i want to thank you for the strong outreach to those what i would say more rural and underserved communities that the chairman was talking about. The funds that are allocated, i happen to agree that we need to roll those into next year because i dont know that any of you but if theres the thing that most americans are thinking about today, if theres a top 20 list, since this doesnt make the top 20 20 list. Im just telling you. It will make it starting in march and april of next year. We will start to see that and then outreach needs to be dedicated but we need to have a system in place now. What i would say is identifying the systems, making sure they are there, making sure the way we collect the data, i know this is going to be a groundbreaking way that we use the internet like weve never used it before, but we tried that in 2010 and it didnt work. And so the last thing i think this chairman wants or that i want is to have egg on our face when it comes to actually counting every individual. Regardless of where you stand on whether the Citizenship Question should be asked or not, it is imperative that we count everybody and it is imperative that we do that in a way that we can allocate not only the resources, the 650 billion or so that flows to each one of our district but we do it in a fair and accurate way. I look for to hearing from you on that. Ive got a longer written statement that i i would ask unanimous consent be added to the record. Without objection. I think the children, and i apologize in advance. I actually have a meeting at the other end of pennsylvania avenue that i had to get you and so we cut of the people coming in but weve got staff thats paying attention. And so with that a young expert we we appreciate your very thoughtful remarks and we will release you to the uncertain fortunes of the article ii branch and well stick right it with article one branch. But thank you for coming. I now have the pleasure of welcoming our witnesses. First is the honorable stephen telling him, phd, director of your Census BureauRobert Goldenkoff who is the director of Strategic Issues of u. S. Government Accountability Office, gao. And nichlas marinos, director of Information Technology cybersecurity at the gl. At the u. S. Government Accountability Office. I will begin by swearing all of you in so please rise if you would and raise your right hand. [witnesses were sworn in] let the record reflect the witnesses all answered in the affirmative. Thank you. You may be seated. The microphones a sensitive so please directly into them. Without objection your written statements will be made part of the permanent record. That director dillingham, you are now recognized to give an oral presentation of your testimony for five minutes. Chairman raskin and committee members, thank you for inviting me. This is an important for the Census Bureau and the 2020 census. The census clock is ticking. Were increasingly ready and we thank you for your support. Regarding the president s executive order we are reviewing it. Steps have begun to form an interagency working group. Preparations for the census continue unabated and execution is new. The census will begin in remote alaska in less than six months. The nationwide count commences in nine months. It is my opinion one shared by the Census Bureau professionals that we have an outstanding plan built upon best practices with cost savings and important innovations. We have teams in place and hirings are underway. Our teams entering a highperformance phase. Hiring is proceeding, training is continued. Safety and accountability progressing to currently we are on board tens of thousands of address listed. We appreciate congressional help in recruiting the. With Hurricane Season here we must be prepared for disasters and unforeseen event when a disaster strikes we can and will at that. Information system readiness and cybersecurity are paramount. I will design i. T. Systems and integrated operations are working. We tested functionality, scalability and, of course, cybersecurity. Data is encrypted at every stage. Were working closely with government and industry experts. Oversight accountability and support are valued. First, we are committed to assisting congress and this subcommittee pick second, we appreciate the work of the Government Accountability office and office of Inspector General. We agree the 2020 census is high risk, given its scope, complexity and boards. Third, we appreciate bipartisan support including continued funding. Appropriators requested a plan for additional funds. We developed an option to increase Committee Partnership assistant and hard to count outreach. Our highest priority as mentioned by the chairman is to reach hard to count groups. We continue to identify and visit such communities found in all states and the urban suburban and rural expert during my travels i see partners reaching people a new and better ways. Counting children has been a perennial challenge when working closely with pediatricians and schools. We have plans to reach the homeless. A Partnership Specialist from local communities at different backgrounds and hence these efforts. We have an integrated researchbased Outreach Campaign that messages for diverse communities. I often repeat the message the 2020 census is easy, safe and important. A member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus recently suggested i reversed that order. The census is important. Its important increases daily. Data is used for apportionment and redistricting and by governments at all levels in developing policies and administering programs for billions of dollars reaching millions of people. Funds support education, transportation, health and human services, 50, jobs more. It is you by government, businesses and families. The census is safe. Since this day remain secure with confidentiality protected. Congress passed stringent laws with severe criminal penalties of imprisonment and fines for violations. Since his employees take a lifetime oath to protect our data. The Census Bureau sets the High Standard and maintains a culture and practice of protecting data. It is not shared with anyone or any agency. Finally, the census is easy. This is due to improvements in technology. People may complete the census anytime anywhere. Our language assistance will reach more than 99. 6 of the population. This will be the first census everywhere people may choose to enter electronically. If people prefer people, why should it will arrive automatically in the mail. I described our technologies and tools in context of a familiar story. Late at night a person sees his friends under straight leg looking for a. The friend joins the searches but is having no luck. He asks his friend are you sure you lost it or . The friend request no, i dropped it down the block in the dark but im lucky here because light is better. We come to longer rely on collecting data in the usual ways and places. With internet and phone options we have tools to go into the less visible hard to get areas and collect the data. In the boroughs of newark city mobile devices can count in the street markets or among the students at queens college. In detroit we can use Civic Centers and houses of worship. In South Carolina and georgia the technology can count persons displaced from closed mill villages or roll from spirit and Silver Spring, maryland, you can do for the tools and Community Centers and commercial establishment like korean corridor in baltimore, maryland, libraries and Recreation Centers alone provide 80 locations with interconnectivity that cant and will be used. Partnership specialist will work with Community Groups using computers and laptops and phones to count others wherever they may be, including homeless beneath the freeway. Options are reaching hard to count persons are limited only by imagination and initiative. In baltimore on it partners with great ideas and initiative. On the light side i made an offer to the mayor to repeat and will not act of the previous may. When the opening of the cities according was delayed, that may have publicly fulfilled his bet on the opening day by jumping with cameras rolling into the aquarium sealed pool. I made that pledge last week. The cities Response Rate matches are state average, i would love to jump into the sealed pool to celebrate the cities success. I expect to lose that that. The Baltimore City plan i have with me was released on friday. It is complete with extensive partnerships and a host of exciting innovations. I am optimistic about what im seeing across the nation. Preparations are underway. Partnerships are increasing, interest and enthusiasm are growing. Working together arm in arm hand in hand and with new technologies expanded outreach and Community Partnerships we can conduct the best census ever, one that is complete and accurate. I look for to answering your questions. Thank you very much. Mr. Goldenkoff. Chairman raskin and members of the subcommittee, gao is pleased to be here today to discuss the Census Bureaus readiness for the 2020 get. As you know in recent years we have identified a number of operational, i. T. , cybersecurity and other challenges that raised serious concerns about the bureaus of delete to conduct a Cost Effective enumeration. In february 2017 we added the 2020 census to gaos list of high risk Government Programs and remains on our high risk list today. I remarks this afternoon will focus on two two such challeng, and limiting Design Innovations and the controlling costs and hiring temporary staff. My colleague nick marinos will then discuss the challenges that your faces and delimiting securing critical i. T. Systems. The bottom line is that as the countdown crozier, the census has mitigate some of the recession the census census ane encouraged by the Commerce Department and Census Bureaus leadership commitment towards carrying out a Cost Effective enumeration. Still the bureau estimates the census may cost as much as 15. 6 billion, a 3 billion increase over over the bureaus original estimate and significant uncertainties lie ahead. For example, with respect to Design Innovations to help control costs while maintaining accuracy, the bureau will use new procedures and technology for 2020, including greater use of automated Data Collection methods, administrative records in place of Data Collected by enumerators, verifying most addresses using aerial imagery and other in Office Procedures rather than going doortodoor, and allowing households the option of responding to the census via the internet. These innovations show promise for controlling cost but they also introduce new risks in part because theyve not been tested extensively, if at all, in earlier enumerations. As a result testing is essential to ensure that key i. T. Systems and operations will function as planned. However, citing budgetary uncertainty the bureau scaledback Operational Test in 2017 and 2018. Without sufficient testing across the range of geographic locations, housing types, living arrangements and demographic groups, operational problems can go undiscovered and the opportunity to refine procedures and systems could be lost. Another risk factor is a hiring of temporary staff, and in particular the on boarding a Partnership Specialist. Currently the bureau plans to recruit approximately 2. 24 million applicants and from these to higher over 400,000 temporary field staff for two mackey operations, address canvassing and not respond followup. According to bureau officials, the nations cut low Unemployment Rate has not yet impacted their ability to recruit staff, and thats of july 2019 the bureau reported that for all 2020 census operations it the process just over 500,000 applicants. The bureau fell short of this goal with just 903 903 partnerp specialist hired as of july 6. As of july 17, another 872 applicants were awaiting to other background checks completed. The bureau expects to all 1500 Partnership Specialist on board by september 1, 2019. In the coming weeks will be important for the bureau to hire and retain the full complement of Partnership Staff plan for 2020, otherwise it might affect the bureaus average efforts to keep communities at risk of being undercounted. In short, while the bureau and department of commerce have taken steps to keep preparation for the decennial on track, additional steps are needed. Going forward, to help ensure a Cost Effective headcount attention and strong congressional oversight will be needed to help ensure that the bureau supplements are open recommendations, that key component and systems work as required, the preparation stay on schedule and management functions follow leading practices. This concludes my prepared remarks. I will now turn over to nick marinos who will discuss the risks facing the Census Bureau i. T. And cybersecurity system. Thank you very much. Mr. Marinos, you reckon been. Thank you, chairman raskin and members of the subcommittee. They couldnt find geo to discuss efforts to prepare for the 2020 census. Our most recent high risk report highlighted a number of i. T. Related challenges facing the bureau. These include i. T. Systems readiness and cybersecurity. The bottom line is these challenges still remain today and we believe it is important for the beer to overcome them prior to the 2020 census. Starting with systems readiness, the bureau plans to rely heavily on i. T. For the 2020 census including to the 52 systems it plans to use during different stages of census operations. Many of the systems will be deployed multiple times in order to add needed functionality over the course of 16 operational deliveries. The bureau has delivered the first group of systems to support only hiring and training and the next few months will see keep testing and production deadlines for many additional systems. However, our ongoing work as determine determined the bureau is at risk of not meeting key i. T. Milestones for five upcoming operational deliveries. These include deliveries in sport of inner self response, a new innovation of you intends to rely on for significant portion of responses to the census, and recruiting and hiring Key Organization which means hiring hundreds of thousands to assist with the county the population. The bureaus need to closely monitor these schedule risk in order to ensure the systems are all delivered on time. Re cybersecurity, the bureau is working hard to assess security controls, take needed corrective actions, and gain the proper signup to ensure each system is ready for operations. Although an a large majority oe 52 systems have at least received an initial authorization to operate, significant assessment work remains. According to bureau, nine systems will need to have their security controls reassessed to account for Additional Development work prior to the 2020 census. And five systems are still awaiting that initial authorization. Id like to note we been encouraged that the bureau is Court Meeting with the department of Homeland Security on cyber issues. Dhs is provided assistance through Cyber Threat IntelligenceIntegration Center and, and through conducting management and gullibility assessment among other activities. All of these internal and external assessments efforts including recent evaluation performed by the Commerce Department office of Inspector General are vital, especially since a majority of the bureaus systems that will support 120 operations contain personally identifiable information. At the end of the day they will only be as valuable as the corrective actions the bureau takes the response to them. We made to make recommendations to the bureau for management attention in this area. The first gulf of the bureau to address its security to do list and a timelier manner. And the second call for to establish a formal process for tracking and completing actions in response to dhs assessments. The bureau reported it is working to open our recommendations. If fully implement the bureau will be better positioned to ensure that ssns will result in high priority improvements to its cybersecurity posture. In summary, were running short on time before some key census operations begin. Moving forward it will be critical for the bureau to devote enough attention and effort to completing i. T. System Development Activities and implement think cybersecurity improvements in a timely and prioritize weight. Mr. Chairman, this concludes my statement. Thank you very much. Thanks to all the witnesses. We will now begin our questioning according to the fiveminute rule. I now recognize myself for five minutes. I want to focus on the confusion caused by the census test that is command field. Despite the administrations abandonment of the Citizenship Question in the wake of the Supreme Court decision, hundreds of thousands of houses are now still being asked to answer it. In midjune while the case was pending before the Supreme Court made its rule, the bureau pushed a lastminute field test the 480,000 households, after which got the Citizenship Question and half of which did not. The result has been confusion. Hundreds of thousands of people heard the news that the question would not be asked and yet the received a form from the census with precisely the question that the Supreme Court had rejected. Just last week we got a phone call from a citizen wanting to know why she received a census form with the Citizenship Question. I was asked that at a town hall meeting over the weekend. According to the Washington Post one quarter for the resio received the form who said receiving the test questionnaire feels like a scare tactic. Dr. Dillingham, everyone knew the Supreme Court had to rule on the Citizenship Question case at the very latest by the end of june. Why didnt the bureau wait until the end of the month to hear what the courts decision was before launching this test . Mr. Chairman, thats an excellent question. Let me provide some context for you. This is actually a test, 2019 test was designed for operational consequences and impact. If the question was going to be in the census we wanted to know what would be the differential impact for purposes of devoting resources such as the partnership, such as the numerator scum at center. The planning for begin actually last calendar year. The printing occurred i think in april and it followed a schedule as perfect as possible, the same type a schedule that we would have for the 2020 census. And that is the staggered mailings, et cetera, responsive dates to replicate as close as possible the 2020 census. The form itself with each page as this is a test. In the introduction its a this is a test to help us prepare for the 2020 census. So anyone that reads the information, it should be quite know this is a test. But if it says to get ready for the 2020 census, it implies that the Citizenship Question will indeed be on the 2020 census. It certainly applies that the possibility. So get half halfwit up withoute question, halfwit out with the question. As i was to see what is the differential impact. So we followed the schedule and actually i think, i will double check, only one of the staggered mailings that i think stretched about probably six weeks the same as with the census, maybe was more condensed the five or six weeks i recall, it was already before the Supreme Court ruled, 405 of those were already in the mail and actually the last one at the beginning, i mean earlier this week. Whose decision was that . It was the krista at the Census Bureau felt it was very important that we would know the Operational Impact for purposes of you never made that i i did not make the decisio. Mr. Goldenkoff, is it normal to have a large scale field test like this is close to the census . In other words, if we went back to the 2010 census when we have found a similar test in 2009 . No, and i think this highlights the risk associated with lastminute design changes to a decennial census. Typically, the last major test is conducted in the eighth year of the decade, and so when you do this, i dont, you know, you could argue this was important Risk Mitigation sergey, but, and it will take a lot of effort to kind of get the word out on what was this. Even though it says test on every page it could still strike some concern. To be clear, is a still going on . In other words, are there still people we are getting the results. I did check last night and out of the 480,000 that had been mailed, more than 200,000 had been returned. The only information we have, we have looked at the content of the returns, but it doesnt doey and provide some important information, and that is with regard to both the 2020 census and potential in the future what kind of impact this may be. One of the things you can tell by looking at the basic data returning is hard to count areas again are responding at a much less rate than other areas. Thats helping to verify that. Are people being mandated to respond to the test . Are you required to answer that question . Mr. Chairman, actually under the laws governing the Census Bureau when we send out a survey, it does recite that this is pursuant to law and you are supposed to reply to it. So there are hundreds of thousands of people who in essence of being told they are legally obligated after the Citizenship Question right now. Is welcome and context of the test can we do testing, all sorts of testing and surveys. And so it really is part of the routine business, but this was to look at the impact for operational purposes. My time has expired at and now recognize mr. Keller for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you gentlemen for being here today. I just want to make sure i i understand, i know we talked about the importance of making sure we get february accurately so that money gets appropriated properly. I think another concern of the american citizens is a fact when they transmit information to the government that that information is secure. The question i have goes to the i. T. Systems that we are putting in place. Are they Government Employees that do that or do we contract the building of the software from private company . The answer is that contractors are leveraged by the bureau and so that there is a significant responsibility on the bureau to ensure oversight of those contractors. If we do that, you are confident we have a guess mr. Dillingham, were confident with ackerley and thoroughly vetted these contractors to make sure that information will remain secure and theres no possible way for anybody to hack into it or get the personal information of american citizens . I would defer to dr. Dillingham. We have very elaborate protections as you are well aware the title 13 requires byw we protect this information. We had existing security, and it goes into but in the collection during the 2020 census, using the new devices, we have the latest state of the art software is an devices that encrypts the information automatically. It encrypts it when it goes into the device and when it is sent to the i understand that. The Company Builders can we are sure theres no way theres anything building anyone can hacked hack into this and can access to the information . I can assure you, and we do, there are requirements, secury requirements for the contractors as well and we work with them and monitor them, et cetera and then goes into ill call it our normal safeguarding systems. We do apply the stateoftheart. We have the best minds both in the private sector and the Public Sector working with dhs, the intelligence agencies as well as the major hightech companies to look at this. I can assure you we have identified no major issue that wade weve identified none. Again i want to, a question regarding 61 million printing dollars printing and building contract issued by the government for an office that ordered in october 2017. Its my understanding the company receiving the contract has filed for bankruptcy after the receipt of payment from federal government . That does predate me but my understand is, i do think the record is clear from publicly, that a contract was let out of the Government Printing office and the firm that it was given to had financial problems and, in fact, it resulted in a settlement and having to go with another contractor. Understand my concern. If we as a federal government couldnt even that the company for Financial Stability and make a payment to them, i think we should have some concern that we be able to make sure the companies building the software, that american citizens are going to be using to transmit their information, that the information remains secure. I hope you can understand the concern that i have, and maybe you can speak to what the processes let me ask, have processes been put in place to make sure . Yes, and im certain, again we had another federal agency involved that thats of those contracts. I know in our agency as well as in that Agency Reforms were making changes were made to guard against that in the future. Another question just or quickly. I understand we let a contract for a company and the company was sold and the contract sold to the company for the subsidy doing that to another company. Do we approve that is a company is offered a contract or awarded a contract and they sell that subsidiary or whatever i think i better get back made with particulars of an acquisition folks as to what the federal acquisition requirements are and our adherence to those. I i guess what i want to mak, in securing the information that american citizens are required to provide to the government, i think it should be paramount to all of us and avert a lot of things about the Citizenship Question thats going to be asked. The question of the ship should not be controversial is not new. But i think what our committee on oversight should do is make sure when we are american citizens to transmit information to the government that this committee focus on making sure that the information is secure and not going down a rabbit on something that should not be controversial or is not new in form of the Citizenship Question. The time of the gentleman has expired rakhine now recognize the german from the First District of missouri mr. Clay. Thank you, mr. Chairman, and thank you for conducting this hearing as we know the census is such an essential part of our government, and of the operation of this country. Let me start dr. Dillingham, the marketing ad agency dml why mr, are they considered the census marketing prime contractor . Not to my knowledge, congressman. The one we have can we call it young and robocall and thats yes maybe thats a full name i apologize. Yes. I call it the prime contractor with at least eight subcontractors the specialized particularly with hard to count populations and special reach efforts. Can you tell me what entity or entities are responsible for the actual, and American Media bias . We definitely have that information. People are sitting behind me had that id be glad to talk with you and meet with you. If you provide that to the committee . As silly. Let me ask you, when purchasing ads for the census, must contractors pay Media Outlets in advance . And what is the time frame . Mr. Chairman, let me answer former question mark im told Carol Williams agency is the prime subcontractor with africanamerican population. The timing of the buying of the ads, let me just, this week, today the career professionals at the Census Bureau is working actually in new york city redoing the creek products that would be produced for all forms of media, television, radio, print media, et cetera. Out of the process will come, of the messaging and the materials and created products is what they call it. The actual point of time to the best of my knowledge is probably late december but but i will gu exact dates for purchasing, and i know that discussions are going on and theres a complexity because some of the information thats considered to be somewhat proprietary. I do understand that, but when you have to pay in advance, do you think that that could inhibit some small Minority Owned Company will you and i know where to focus and do a better job on counting those hard to count populations. And so to have barriers in place of the small businesses, it really doesnt make sense. Congressman, i certainly agree with your concerns and what i think we better do is get you some particulars as to the buying practices and the scheduled dates. But i do know another side of the coin is, the sooner you by the time, the cheaper it is. But we can work with you and see what coronation may be needed. And i would appreciate that. Mr. Chairman, and perhaps the bureau could help me with this. I would request that the bureau provide this committee with the names of the minority owned subcontractor firms and minority suppliers participating in the census 2020, marketing and advertising efforts for africanamericans, the areas of the country and communities that are responsible for covering, the value of awarded contracts and when these contracts were executed. I also want to know how the minority suppliers and firms were selected, and finally i would like to know how much money total is being allocated for african American Media. Can you help us . We would be glad to get you that. Some of it may not have yet been decided, but we will get you what we have. You and i understand how challenging it is. Yes, sir. To count hard to count communities, and so i want to work with the agency in every aspect of this. We join you on that goal. Hanky. My times up and they you back. The chair recognizes the gentleman from West Virginia, ms. Miller. Thank you, madam chairwoman and ranking them and thank you all for being here today. Democrats on our committee have been so consumed by the Citizenship Question, all the while that we could have been in this very room performing the necessary oversight to make sure that the census goes smoothly, safely, most important, accurately count the number of people in the United States. If you look at the past decennial census, argument is far behind in conducting the necessary oversight for the 2020 census. Now is our opportunity to finally get to work and do what the American People have sent us here to do. Director dillingham, my district in southern West Virginia is a historical one of the hardest to count in the country. Over half of my constituents, 51 , live in socalled hard to count neighborhoods. What is being done by the Census Bureau to make sure that constituents in rural hard to count neighborhoods are accurately accounted for . Congresswoman, as was mentioned in my Opening Statement that is, in fact, the most important thing to the Census Bureau is reaching the hard to count. And i understand many obstacles and challenges in West Virginia as well as of the states, and we are working on that very diligently. Let me just mention some of the very important ways. Certainly we just mention the Communications Outreach plan, so we will have national and localized advertising on the census reminding people how easy, safe and important it is. And we hope well reach those communities and i have seen community such as yours that has special needs, particularly some committees this more to the radio perhaps and television. There are other avenues, some actually, particularly ethnic communities look at their local newspapers and particularly if its a different language for we have this outreach efforts, but another thing weve done which the chairman mention is our partnership partnerships. We have more than doubled the partnerships for this decennial census, and as an economic Opening Statement we also Congress Asked the Appropriations Committee to come up with, if we received some additional funds, how would we use it we specifically provided in there that we want to continue some temporary employees during the census if its funded by congress to reach those hard to count communities and to the point people with laptops and with phones, et cetera to help reach them. Writing event that are Public Relations communication as well as our outreach efforts and the partnerships, even despite all the new resources we are applying to that in new technologies, we also have the enumerators would be coming around and knock it on the doors. They will be doing that more efficiently, more professional than ever before. So those are some of the things but thats not an exhaustive list and we totally agree with you that we want to reach those communities that are hardest to count. And ive seen that and money went to the navajo nation, actually not the whole nation compares itself to West Virginia. He covers the same territory as West Virginia that has its own set of circumstances and we are working with them to make sure we can reach the heart to count. Thats good because i know television seems to be a good manner because of satellites and the rest that they can be reached. Cell phones are another story. Director, children under ten years of age of the most difficult population to count and this is doubly true in rural areas. What is the Census Bureau doing to make sure rural children in particular making sure that they will be counted . Another excellent question. Children are hard to count in many areas, and even outside what we would traditionally consider hard to get areas that particularly important there. Theres been a problem with having children since the census begin. I saw some information shared with me back in 1850 people were commenting on that come complaining about it. Why is it difficult to count the children . Certainly the circumstances change but it has remade a perennial problem counting the children. We are partnering with organizations such as the Casey Foundation which has devoted staff in time and publications and others and other national organizations. We are focusing on that hard to count population in our campaign as well as with our Partnership Specialist we are working with it right a pediatrician groups, working with the cities, we call it the statistics in Schools Program which is designed for the Census Bureau in reaching the Public Schools to reach the children. But then finally, if we are not getting the results and when we come around and ultimate may have to knock on the door, with special train our people to ask special questions on do you have any children living in your household, et cetera . And even on the Online Internet we have dropdown that reminds you about, are you counting the children . We are looking at it from all angles. A continues to be a problem here we are working that problem. We are continuing to research that problem but with so many partners around the country that are also working on that and we cherish those relationships to make sure that were counting the children. Mr. Goldenkoff, as the gentleladys time has expired. The chairman walden never connect the gentleman from florida ms. Wassermanschultz. Thank you, madam chair. Dr. Dillingham, my question will be directed at you. I i want to focus on the bureaus plan for question Assistance Centers in 2020 census which provide localized in person assistance as you know including the census questionnaire helping hard to count communities get counted. On july 1 sender jack reed and her colleague congresswoman Brenda Lawrence was a member of the recent gillette asking for details under proposed mobile Response Initiative which interesting is replacing the qac program this year. Have you responded to that letter . Congresswoman, regretfully we have not. When will you be responding . As expeditiously as i can after speaking more specifically, when will you be responding . We will be responded very quickly and i within a week, two weeks, three weeks . I would envision within two weeks. Two weeks of no. Will you provide a copy of your response to that letter to this mini . Absolutely. Dr. Dillingham, i have some quick fire yes or no questions for you. In 2010 qac hes count of more than some had thousand people, correct . I, i am not, i would have to check that. I can assure you that so many that the Census Bureau says, that they counted. Which is more than the entire population for example, of the state of vermont. So dr. Dillingham, are the plans to open jail qacs across the country . There are not. You are getting of the centers where more people than a population of entire state were counted. Congresswoman, let me explain that were providing expanded advice and assistance to other mechanism im going to guess asking questions about that because i dont share that view. Is a quick the fy 19 appropriations bill report specifically directed the bureau to open qacs . That was not my understanding. I have speediest dig it as the to look at. I have regular on appropriation bills which governs your agency and this has, additionally the bureau shall devote funding to expand targeted communications achilles the wells to open local question Assistance Centers and hard to get commuters. It says shall. And i think, i dont want to differ with you on the language but let me tell you how we are delivering that speech its writer black and white. Wittily marcescens and ever before. Okay. I have some a yes or no question because i dont agree with your characterization. Are you aware according to the census on audit the many of these qacs were budgeted on enough for 15 15 hours of staff time per week on the open drink out of those people are at work . In the past census . Yes. I know there were problems speech yes or no . I knew there were problems. In the bureaus on 2020 audit of qacs did not recommend eliminating qacs working to improve them, were you aware of that . Im aware the one the function fulfilled. And did not recommend eliminating them . The bricks and mortar, we didnt the debut increase United States facet of a limiting . We very much that unconsidered but are increasingly staffing for that function. But you just that said yout going to have qacs. Its a matter of terminology but when of the mobile Response Units, we consider those speeded up and ask you a question of mobile Response Unit in a moment. So theres appropriate funding available to you that you could be using immediately to open qacs with the census think right around the corner. Dr. Dillingham, for the bureau commit to using some of the 1 billion and i am appropriate so this matters to me, in carryor funds to open qacs . Congresswoman, i understand is its not feasible at this point in time. I beg to differ. Lets talk about the mobile Response Initiative that you are touting. The bureau repaired a report criticizing United States because of a quite individual to find a physical location set up regular hours to provide assistance. Your mobile Response Initiative actually are for the most part going to be twoperson teams with ipads popping up at markets, the tools and events. Know from experience that unpredictable things like whether can affect turnout at events. I went to a festival in june for the juneteenth and it portrayed in south florida and no one came. How will to give with an ipad five Critical Mass in that way . We have actually an interactive life system we call it the wrong system which is the response outreach area mapping tool that we can monitor tracks rome system we can monitor self Response Rates and target speedy with two back people. Us know. We would have more and have a multitude of partners. So in our discussion not according to your plan. The time of the gentleman has expired. I appreciate it and thank you, dr. Dillingham, for your interest if you have some work to do. The chair not used to the gentleman from georgia, mr. Hice. Thank you, madam chair. Thank you for being here. I am very glad were finally getting around to oversight on the census. I believe we are major behind the eight ball at this point, and theres so many issues to deal with from the i. T. , overall strategy, performance and budget, staffing, on and on and on. But i would like to begin up again, director, on the i. T. Component. This whole issue of Cyber Threats increasingly is becoming an issue across the board in so many different areas of our personal lives as well as business and government. Where do we stand on this . Congressman, that is one of the primary concerns certainly of anyone following the census but the gao and others is something of the concern. With the Census Bureau weve been working on it since the last decennial census, putting a lot of protections in place. When working with a leading federal agencies, working with dhs, working with the cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency very closely visiting the facilities and also working with them on a five prong plan which is management, intelligence, and network security, the response areas, the incidence as well as assessments. We are also working with the private sector, working with the leaders and hightechnology industry. They are assisting us in many different ways. Cybersecurity is of concern in gao axis said this, governmentwide concern throughout the federal government. And we are doing everything we can to make sure we have the best minds, the best people and the best policies and the best tools to do with it. So we making tremendous progress. He continued to work on it. Certainly by january we will ler systems fully tested on cybersecurity cybersecurity remains an issue. We are all aware that, across the globe that threat posed. We do scan, like to explain, we scan each month over 100,000 vulnerabilities. So we have an ongoing very intense, very rigorous progress are looking for this threat. I would tend to differ with you on some of your, you have lofty words stating your ready and everything is high in the sky. I have much more serious concerns. Mr. Marinos, what about you . Is going to be more i. T. Involved in this census than anyone in our nations history. Where do you see that we stand on cybersecurity . Its definitely a key element to the high risk area that gao doesnt it back in 2017 with respect to the census 2020 census. Two big things that one is the additional testing at the beer has had of it with respect to cybersecurity. Were talking about having to recess nine systems out of the 52 and then assess five system to get them to the point of a site of the says we are good to go. On the other side we credit the bureau for the assessment effort that stunted it as well as the work the department from unsecured has done what we would like to see that turn turned io corrective actions implemented. I headed it the bureau has still some work to do when it comes to assessment, but more poorly take those assessments and turn them into corrections within their cybersecurity broken. I totally agree. Director, ill come back to the census secure assessment identified 217 high risk or very high risk corrective actions the need to be addressed. As i understand it there than 104 of those delayed. That doesnt sound like you are on the right side of the ball. I appreciate your concern and we are concerned as well. But let me provide a look at the context. We identified in the last year 150,000 vulnerabilities, and we dont resolve those vulnerabilities we create a plan of action and we established milestones. Those plans of action and milestones is what gao looks at. You look at the milestones weve established so we havent ongoing inventory of approximately 300 out of many, many thousands, and we have been common off each and every day. As a matter fact, i am surprised we do at least 100 a month, several everyday coming off of the list and others coming on. Whats the chances you complete all of this speech theres no chance. So its not pieinthesky i could describe it. No, we are managing risk and thats going to be until the census is completed. There will be risk identified and risk coming out. We are working, working to list and thats the way we do thats the way gao recommend we do business is Risk Management and Risk Mitigation. We have the people and resources and thats when working it. But i would never envisioned that risk list would reach zero. Thank you, madam chair,. The chair not recognize the gentleman from california, mr. Gomez. Thank you, madam chair. While the Citizenship Question is over, i believe the ramifications of the question still remain. Fear and confusion in our Committee Still exist and we must ensure that millions of americans rich and poor, citizens and immigrants are counted. Historically communities of color and immigrant communities havent undercounted while nonhispanic whites have had a higher account. As someone who represents one of the most diverse districts in the country, this is a big concern of mine. Californias 34th Congressional District is home to multiple communities like chinatown, koreatown, composed of a wide range of ethnicities and nationalities. With dozens of languages spoken in the district, many residing in multifamily households and some living below the federal poverty level. All these barriers makes an numeration in my district difficult making one of the hardest to count districts in the country with 42 of my constituents living and hard to count neighborhoods. More concerning is the 2020 census increased reliance on technology. Although have some positive impact im also concerned about hard to counting the district for the 2020 census, the Census Bureau is pushing 80 of the people to respond online with only 20 20 of communities receiving a paper form as the first option. But 35 of u. S. Adults dont have access to reliable internet in their homes, including 53 of latinos and 43 of African American communities. In my district alone, one quart of my district households have no access to the internet. So the first question is, given that more than 35 of adults lacked reliable internet reliable internet, im concern that bureau is pushing 80 of the population to respond online. Dr. Dillingham, what is a plan to increase responses and underrepresented and low income committees that have lower rates of Internet Access . Congressman, thats an excellent question and we are working hard to count but let me clarify some of the context. When we met last week with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus we also discussed some of these topics, but our language, our language a system will reach 99. 6 of the population and in the areas with us a substantial Hispanic Community it will be in both english and spanish. The 80 figure, i apologize, i have never heard before and we dont use the 80 figure. Actually if we receive 80 of people responding electronically that would be a mammoth accomplishment but we dont expect that it we are aiming i think it is 60. 5 and we like to see how that comes up. But the paper, i just want to remind everyone, the paper, if a person does not respond online or by phone, theyre going to receive the paper. In hard to count community they received the paper questionnaire in the first communication. We send out five mailings to the kennedys in the hard to count and many of those they will receive in the first mailing and then they theres the again ine fourth minute. So every household that hasnt responded will receive a paper questionnaire that they can submit. And in some instances let me follow along with that. Ive been informed that some have said that the identified f the countries will receive a paper form first, is that correct . One of the things, i think if the community, if the area is 20 of hispanic, for example, then they will get the paper in the first mailing. A lot of advocates, a lot of groups are working on this want to know the list of communities that will receive the paper ballot first. Could you make that list of cameras available . I would not see why not. Compared to 70 of the general population, dos that comfort with your understanding . I wouldnt challenge that at all, but i will check on that. Thank you for coming for this is an important issue for all of us. I believe that the Citizenship Question would have had a huge negative impact on the county and im glad thats resolved, but were going to make sure you get the resources and everybody on board to ensure a complete and accurate count. Appreciate your support, thank you very much. And i yield back to the chair. The gentlemans time has expired. I recognize myself for five minutes. Mr. Dillingham i want to thank you for being here today. Please know that congress is a partner this endeavor and by this committee we plan to stay engaged and do the work in 2019 so we can do the work in 2020. I represent the district includes boston. Boston ranks ninth among the largest cities where its hardest to count and we see the undercount with disparates and inequities in the district. Finally speaking, you arent counted if you dont count and there are so many communities for the Lbgt Community for those rendered unseen and not counted. Today id like to focus my questions to the bureau specifically. Dr. Dillingham on july 11th, 2019, an executive order was signed directing the Commerce Department to obtain citizenship data by other means. Dr. Dillingham in light of the executive order will the bureau produce block level data on citizens and noncitizens . Yes or no . Block level, at a level, they will. A citizen versus noncitizen from a administrative, thats correct. On a block level, im not sure. Its complicated thing, but we also have important protections at the basic level. We call it disclosure avoidance where we indetect into the data has yet to be determined. Has anyone suggested block level data will be used by the bureau to target for immigration enforcement, yes or no . Congresswoman, im aware of the concern were prohibited from law from doing it. The only thing that we release are statistics, aggregate numbers, and we protect the privacy. So theres the data is made available to the nation, but i can tell you im sorry, just reclaiming my time. My time is short here. What would you say to those who are concerned about this block level data being used for that purpose . cause i understand what youre saying here, but how do you communicate en masse what youre saying, that you dont corroborate in that way . Were messaging for the Outreach Campaign that they understand the security thats in place and why they should not be afraid to complete the census and whats important are the trusted voices of Congress Excuse me my district is 40 immigrant and i cant begin to count and boston Public Schools alone there are 150 different languages. Do you have the Staffing Resources to communicate in the most culturally competent way given the diversity of the districts that are undercounted. We have language assistance in 96 , and the i am enumerated and to reach out to handicapped or special needs of all time and to our ennumber enumerators and outreach. Can you say that the will not be used in the bureau apportionment counts . The we pro an apportionment accounts. Let me get back to do you believe it should be used for that purpose . I dont have any belief whatsoever. I just need to know the mechanics, congresswoman and ill get back to you on that. Please do. Is it possible you can get back with me with an answer in the next ten days, specifically on this question, if you plan to use this Data Collected pursuant to the that it will not be used in the bureau apportionment count . Can you give me an answer on that in writing . I dont see why i couldnt. Okay, wonderful. I dont have the answer. Will the information be used in determining the allocation of federal resources for medicaid or for chips, for the Childrens Health insurance . Congresswoman, we dont determine the use of it, we just produce the numbers. Do you believe it should be used for that purpose . We hope that our data is accurate and complete and is useful for many purposes, but all of the federal programs, totalling more than 675, some people estimate it could be close to a trillion dollars, we hope that our data that theyre using is very accurate, complete. Okay. Have you or anyone you know of discussed, including citizenship data in the redistricting file . Redistricting file. Congresswoman, let me get back to you on that. I would love to understand if you have those conversations and what was the nature of those conversations and who participated. Theyre i can only refer you to the executive order that were going to be looking at, and in putting the administrative data together. I can refer you to that so whatever that executive order says. All right, doctor, my name is expired. I recognize the gentle lady from new york, ms. Maloney. I thank you chair lady for yielding and i thank the panelists for your testimony today. Its a busy last week here in congress and i thank you for all of your hard work, all of you. In the past two years, its shown that the census is vulnerable to political manipulation. When the Citizenship Question was added. In fact, our nation was one vote on the Supreme Court away from erasing an estimated 8 million people, a professional said, from the formulas, we use to determine who represents us and who governs us and how we distribute over 700 billion in federal funds nearly. And we really cannot allow our country to be in that position again where really the accuracy of the censuses question. So my first question about a bill that i authored called the census idea act, which would prevent arbitrary and capricious harmful questions from being added at the last minute. Really, over the objection of the professionals at the Census Bureau and many others, and the way you would prevent that is require by law, basically the administrative code as it exists now, and require in law testing periods for each question, additional reporting to congress on that testing, and certification by the gao, that tests were adequate before forms can be printed, and this bill, in my opinion, would allow the country to be protected from what judge fuhrman called in the one of the decisions, capricious and arbitrary addition of questions to the census. Basically, to have the formula and actually its a formula thats in the administrative code, but the Census Bureau decided not to follow the administrative code. So, i would like to present this question to all of you in writing and with the bill, and give you a chance to see the bill and particularly gao, id like your responses to it whether you think it would prevent capricious and arbitrary tampering with the census in the future so that its well thought out, approved, done in a proper procedures, and i think its important that we not only make sure that everyones counted, but that we prevent any type of behavior that undermines the accuracy of the census. But now, moving forward, and would all of you respond in writing to this question and to viewing it . Id appreciate it. Okay. Thank you. Now, i really want to talk about the neighborhood Partnership Specialists and i understand that that is critical. We have the Census Bureau up and running in new york now, and the director there says that these partnerships are very important and that we need to have them fully operational partnerships that theyre essential to the 2020 census. Id like to really ask, first of all, mr. Dilling maham. Do you think these partnerships are important and the bureaus goal was to have 1500 Partnership Specialists on board by the end of june and id like to know did we meet that deadline . Maybe id ask, and how far behind is the bureau and id like to hear from mr. Dillingham whether we can move forward quickly to get this in place . Sure. Well, thank you, thats an excellent question as you knowment Partnership Specialists are so important in terms of convincing people, particularly populations that are traditionally undercounted to participate in the census. Theyre the socalled trusted voices. The Census Bureau had planned to hire around 1500 Partnership Specialists by the end of june of this year. They fell short of that goal. As of july 8th they had only 813 Partnership Specialists hired and they hope now to reach that full compliment of 1500 by september. So already the Census Bureau is two months behind on such on this important effort. So mr. Dillingham as i understand it, the delay in hiring is caused by massive backlog and background checks and the bureau is about to embark, trying to 1500 offices since this is a nonresponsive followup. If the bureau cant handle the 1500 background checks, how in the heck are they going to handle 15,000 which i understand is your goal . Congresswoman, i appreciate it and how important the specialists are. When i met in your office in new york city, we had Partnership Specialists with us and i addressed the specialists in a phone call from the van while we were outside your office. We appreciate and i also notice, besides the Partnership Specialists we shared with you the information where you had the longest list of the members of Congress Whose districts we had, in terms of your partners and we commend you on that. But on the Partnership Specialists weve made more than 1600 offers and the majority are on board, but were waiting for the few that and as pointed out, were going to be on track, on time, within 30 days theyll all be boarded. We should have we envisioned 1501, but in fact, weve made offers to more than 1600. In addition to that, as i mentioned with the Appropriations Committee, we presented an option that congress for congress could consider, that we could from the last census, we could have up to 5,000 assistants that would assist the Partnership Specialists and that would be from continuing on our assistant recruiters who have already gone through the hiring process and have the computers and they could be dispatched to assist the Partnership Specialists, so, there is a mammoth the effort being made in devotion of resources to this topic. And in our hiring, we are presently hiring, as youre well aware, the address canvassers and we have but my question is, not the 1500, youre going to move forward on that, but youre supposed to hire another 15,000 nonresponse followup workers and if youre having trouble hiring the 1500 how are you going to hire the 15,000 with a background response. I appreciate your concern, we havent reached the stage yet for the nonresponse followup. That will be in our peak hiring and well be advertising later. Right now we have over a half million applicants in our system, more than 600,000 have gone to our website and begun the process to apply for jobs and were hiring currently 40,000 out of that 500,000, so, its at this point in time we were pleasantly surprised at the job pool that was out there. The gentlemans time is expired. You give me two seconds more, three seconds more. One final question. For a gao question. Mr. Dillingham will you commit to providing a plan to gao on to this committee how youll improve the check process and stay on schedule . We want you to stay on schedule and im sure youre going to do it, but let us know how youre going to do it. Congresswoman, thank you so much. May i thank the chairman for being a visionary on the census and so many others . I appreciate that. The gentle lady from illinois is now recognized. Miss kelly. Thank you, mr. Chair and if im redundant, i apologize, i had other hearings. Dr. Dillingham, the 20 census will use Cloud Technology to store data from respondents, correct . That is being pursued, correct. The commerce and attorney general invested the cloud for the 2020 census and found fundamental security deficiencies, are you familiar with in . Yes, i am. In that report the ig office rights its found severe risk to 2020 census cloud environments. Dr. Dillingham the 2020 census cloud environment is where residents confidential data will be stored. Thats correct. And left systems vulnerable, quote, unquote, and basic security practices were not implemented to protect title 13 data. Why have basic practices not been implemented to protect data which is considered among the most confidential under federal law . Certainly, congresswoman. Let me explain there was no breach of the system and as revealed in that report, as a system was being set up, it really was an access issue and we do involve contractors, and there was a im going to generallylize it here, but there was actions, corrective actions were taken to make sure that no one had this special capability of accessing the system and they further identified the problem of when you have data on the cloud, you need plans in place to take it down so that none of that data remains. So, those were two things that we very much respect the findings of the Inspector General and immediate action was taken and it was some time ago and it involved contractors and in setting up the system, so, but by the time of the 2020 census, those and those corrective actions have already taken place, but well have more by the time of the 2020 census, thank you. Thank you. The reports include many of the deficiencies indicate that the bureau was behind schedule. Mr. Marino, so you agree that the bureau rushed to deploy it systems as the i. T. Indicated . Yes, weve previously reported on the bureau testifying itself that there were time constraints that resulted resulted in shorter time frames for testing and dr. Dillingham the i. T. Report said that the bureau agreed to implement all of its recommendation. Let me explain a matter of course. We appreciate these people looking over our shoulders, they see our timelines and hold our feet to the fire. If were not meeting those milestones, they remind us and we appreciate it greatly. You will implement each and every recommendation. So far maybe one post 2020 census, but our normal practice is to agree and take corrective action, thats correct. And how are you doing on your timeline with completing the recommendations and repairing the fundamental security deficiencies . Certainly, there are certain areas and in the ones they were tracking were making tremendous progress. The majority of corrective actions have been taken, and some are underway and so we monitor it each and every week and were looking to see the progress thats been made and well continue to do that. Thank you. Mr. Marino, will goa be tracking the process on the recommendation . Yes, we coordinate closely with the Inspector Generals office on related reviews and on a continual basis, talk about the status of recommendations. I believe there were eight recommendations made by the Inspector Generals office within that report. Several of them that we think are vital to implement as quickly as possible. And have you received a plan on how this will be accomplished . We havent. I think it would be best to defer to the ig on the specific recommendations, but i would say that this relates also to our more general recommendations around corrective actions, and ensuring that the bureau is prioritizing this good feedback getting from these sources and making the decisions what to tackle first. Additionally, the gao in its monitoring of the Census Bureau found that the bureau is at risk of not meeting near term i. T. System development and testing scheduled milestones for five upcoming 2020 census operational deliveries. Mr. Goldenoff can you tell us what the five are and how they are delayed and how delayed they are . I should say. Sure. The five operational deliveries relate to peak recruiting and hiring and internet selfresponse. And both advanced and i am number ration activities. In terms of where they are right now, there are multiple milestones related to each of those deliveries and again, across the 52 systems, several systems may be touched at different times. And i think the most important and critical ones are going to be based on what operations are coming up. We did see, to the bureaus credit, address canvassing when we were recently tracking in the spring come off the atrisk list and thats starting in august. Well continue to monitor the status of the deliveries as well. They all sound very, very important and critical to the success of the 2020 census. Thank you, i yield back. Thank you the time is expired. We go to the gentleman from nevada. Thank you, mr. Chairman, chairman raskin and thank you very much for allowing me for being here today to speak about the importance of the u. S. Census, particularly for the africanamerican community. Just yesterday the Congressional Black Caucus under the leadership of congresswoman karen bath, our chair, launched a new 2020 census task force, which i will serve as chair. One of the goals of the task force will be to partner with the Census Bureau and coalition stakeholders to ensure an inclusive, complete, and accurate 2020 census count. We will also work to increase the participation of all communities, but specifically black residents, as well as black immigrants and ensure a fair and accurate count of all people across the United States. During the last census count in 2010, africanamericans were undercounted by over 800,000. That is totally unacceptable and we must close the gap and ensure higher participation in the 2020 census so that all communities that need federal resources are able to receive them. So, my question is, first, does the bureau have a goal or plan to improve the black undercount and increase participation . Mr. Congressman we know with each made, there was nothing more important, nothing higher priority than reaching the hard to count. Among the hard to count were certain populations including the black populations, and so were engaged in that. Were doing it the ways that ive mentioned in terms of our Communication Campaign and in terms of partnerships, but i want to commend you, one of the most important things is to have the groups at the local level that have formed the task forces and the complete count committees and stake holders, we could not conduct the census without the support of the congress and the communities and the partners and the state and local governments and i commends you for doing that and we have given tool kits to all members of congress and i know many are helping us in so many ways to appreciate your help. And i look forward to reviewing that plan. Has an analysis been done to determine the impacts that the consolidation that the census offices will have on hard to count communities . For instance, we learned within our cbc Task Force Meeting that there is only going to be six regional census offices to serve the entire United States. So, what analysis went into the Decision Making to reduce by half, the number of census offices and what steps are being done to remedy this issue . Mr. Congressman, the regional offices mirror our regional offices that are in place permanently so thats where the six. But we have 248 area census offices which is, in fact, we had a discussion earlier, its a reduction from the past. But let me explain to you that in reducing those offices, were beefing up the mobile response so we can take the devices directly into the Community Centers, into the churches, into the areas of need. What was the justification for cutting by half the offices . There were over 450. Thats correct. There were 12 regional offices. If you could just get that to us with any i certainly will. Let me just say generally, it was the conclusion of the professionals at the Census Bureau who have done many, many censuses that it was not Cost Effective, that we had better technologies, we could reach people better, devoting more resources to reach those people in the bricks and mortar in many distances was not working. The general Accountability Office has said that this census cannot follow the same practices of the past. That was one of the areas where we saw a great opportunity for improvement. And one of those areas is to have completed through the internet. That, however, many hard to count communities do not have access to the internet. So what are the bureaus plans to help seniors, low income populations and others get counted . Again, that is one of the areas that were working the hardest on and we think we have a lot to show. The tools we have with the internet and the telephone options people can answer anytime, anywhere, are very important and hard to count communities. In columbia, South Carolina theyre putting wifi in city buses. People on the way to work can get on the phone and answer the census in less than ten minutes. Its very important that we apply all of these technologies to the communities. Were in total agreement with you there. The bricks and mortar idea is sort of gone. If i could do the analogy. Its like if youre in the volume pizza business, you do a Delivery Service and we need to reach the people in the most efficient and effective way possible and working with the groups na youre a part of it, enable us to do that. When we go to Community Center we expect, yes, we will have a Partnership Specialist there or an assistant, but we will have dozens of people from that community, volunteer organizations, partners, stake holders, et cetera that will be working with us and that really makes it happen and gets the job done. Thank you. And the gentlemans time has expired in a recognized timely gentle lady from massachusetts in two minutes. Thank you, mr. Chair, picking up on my previous line regarding the diversity throughout our country and certainly the district, i represent the massachusetts seven. Theyre foreign born and speak languages other than english and you spoke about how you plan to engage in those communities and to youve got a big job combatting information and hate and fear thats been stoked. Just i want to use this platform responsibly here. One of my constituents comes across something on social media or in the mail, for example, that they believe is fraudulently representing itself as part of a census. How should they report that . We will have procedures in place to do that, particularly, we will have through our customer assistance, centers by phone. People can pick up the phone and say, hey, someones in my neighborhood, someone or theres something on the internet. Is there a number that you can share today . A number and email address or what side they should go contact or report to . On the website, i will doublecheck to see what our website will have. But there should be certainly referral information and proceeds in place, exactly to report and we are working with Law Enforcement nationwide, to make sure we theyre aware of that problem. All right, is there any process in place where people can contact you to find out whether a document is a legitimate 2020 census document . I specifically for that, i think there is, but i will verify and get back to you. On both of those, i just would appreciate having information that we can promote on our platform to combat any fraud. Absolutely. Thank you. And fraud is one of our one of the things were certainly working with other agencies and in groups to prevent. Thank you, i yield. Yes, thank you. The gentle ladys time is expired. I want to thank him for his patience and thank the witnesses for testimony and we will look forward to working with you for the most successful possible count we can get in 2020. Thank you for your testimony. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversation [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] in 1979, Small Network with an unusual name rolled out a big idea. Let viewers make up their own minds and cspan opened their doors to policy making for all to see, bringing you unfiltered content from congress and beyond. A lot has changed in 40 years and on television and online, cspan is your unfiltered tool of government so you can make up your own mind. Brought to you the Public Service by your cable or satellite provider. Well on cspan2 we take you live now to the Bipartisan Policy Center in washington for a discussion on migration and how the Trump Administration and Obama Administration have handled the challenges that should get underway shortly here on cspan2. Part of our live Coverage Today which will include over on cspan today, the House Speaker nancy pelosi as the house breaks for their august recess. Shell hold a News Conference at 10 45 eastern. That will be over on cspan. [inaudible conversations]