Editorial

Funding will be based on actual census

The Census Bureau made the right decision to permit allocation of $185 billion in federal funds based only on raw numbers, not statistically adjusted numbers.

Democrats have argued such distributions should be made based on adjustments because minorities, the poor and children historically are underrepresented in the census. Therefore, they claim, basing the allocation on adjustments means more money for Medicaid and a host of other programs goes into cities where it is needed most.

But Americans are enjoying the most accurate census in history. Acting Census Bureau director William Barron said the 2000 undercount -- those who didn't fill out their census forms as they should have and thus weren't counted -- was less than 1 percent. In 1990, it was 1.6 percent, or about 4 million people.

And Republicans are correct when they say the money might not end up in the right neighborhoods if distributed based on adjustments.

Besides, when has tinkering with numbers been considered a good thing?

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