WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's nominee to oversee the Census Bureau is declining to give his opinion of the administration's decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census.
If confirmed, Steven Dillingham would oversee the once-a-decade census that will determine how many seats in Congress each state receives and how hundreds of billions in tax dollars are distributed. Dillingham appeared before a Senate panel Wednesday.
Adding a citizenship question has provoked fears that some people won't participate, and several lawsuits.
Republican Sen. Steve Daines of Montana tried to get Dillingham to weigh in, but the nominee says "I have no plans to voice an opinion on that question."
Dillingham says the courts will determine whether the question is used and he'll have to administer the count consistent with that decision.
