If the 2000 census is to be finished on time, a choice must be made by March between the Clinton administration's preference for statistical sampling and Congress' desire for a direct count, the acting census director said Tuesday, according to an Associated Press report.
The Census Bureau is now making the preparations necessary for both ways of counting, which have much in common in the early stages.
But it will soon need to switch into high gear financially and in practice, with one method or the other, to produce the census' results by the deadline of Dec. 31, 2000, Acting Census Director James Holmes said.
"March of next year is the latest possible date ... for a decision on which track to follow," Holmes told a news briefing in advance of a congressional hearing on the issue planned for today.
To wait longer could risk delays in implementing the vast number of operations needed for the census, like printing questionnaires, hiring specific staff and putting in place the infrastructure required to count the U.S. populace, he said.
The administration asked the Supreme Court last week to let it use the statistical method after a lower court struck down the Census Bureau's planned use of sampling. Republicans oppose the sampling method, and the GOP-led House sued to stop its use.
The Supreme Court most likely will decide by October whether to accept the case, and if so would probably hear arguments on it in December, with a decision coming next year.
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