Vitter: Reid wants illegals counted in the Census

(By Ed Morrissey, Hot Air) - Senator David Vitter has tried to attach an amendment to the Commerce, Justice, and Science appropriation for FY2010 to clarify that the Census should restrict its counts to people in the US legally. The Hill reports that Vitter accuses Harry Reid of attempting to block a vote on the amendment, which might have serious consequences for California and other states with large populations of illegal aliens. Vitter claims that California got as many as five extra Congressional districts from the 2000 Census after their failure to determine status:

Sen. David Vitter (R-La.), who is sponsoring an amendment to an appropriations bill that would require illegal immigrants list their status on next year’s Census, said late Wednesday that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) wants them counted amongst the general population instead.

The senator claimed that Reid wants illegals to be counted in the 2010 Census so that left-leaning states with high illegal immigrant populations could increase the size of their congressional delegations. The Census is a major factor in determining the each state’s share of the 435 seats in the House of Representatives.

“I think it’s pretty clear that Harry Reid and the Democratic side…wants illegals counted in the Census, wants illegals in the reapportionment of the House,” Vitter said on a conservative talk radio show late yesterday.

Vitter, who is co-sponsoring the measure with Sen. Bob Bennett (R-Utah), claimed that illegals counted in the 2000 Census allowed California to maintain up to five additional seats in Congress they should not have.