WASHINGTON—Heritage Action, a conservative grassroots organization with two million activists nationwide, today released the following statements celebrating growing momentum for the Equal Representation Act (S.3659 / H.R. 7109) after Heritage Action announced a Key Vote urging lawmakers to cosponsor the bill and encouraged grassroots conservatives to contact their representatives in support.
The statements come hours before President Donald Trump and Speaker Mike Johnson deliver remarks on election integrity, underscoring the paramount importance of securing citizens’ electoral power to the conservative movement.
This week, the Equal Representation Act crossed the 100-cosponsor threshold in the U.S. House of Representatives and cleared the Committee on Oversight and Accountability, two significant hurdles for any piece of legislation. Heritage Action Executive Vice President Ryan Walker congratulated the sponsors and the grassroots conservatives supporting the bill, saying:
“Joe Biden’s deadly border policies have made the illegal immigration crisis the number one concern of the American people, and voters are pleading for Congress to fight back. Congressman Edwards, Congressman Davidson, and Senator Hagerty deserve a lot of credit for taking on an issue that seems obvious to most Americans but is somehow controversial for the far-Left: Congressional apportionment and electoral votes should be based solely on the needs of American citizens. Heritage Action is proud to have helped push this bill past the 100 cosponsor mark and will keep working with conservatives across the country to finish the job.”
The legislation, introduced by U.S. Reps. Chuck Edwards (R-N.C.) and Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) in the House and Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) in the Senate, would protect Americans’ electoral power and congressional representation by requiring the U.S. Census Bureau to add a citizenship question on any future surveys.
U.S. Representative Warren Davidson (R-Ohio):
“Members of Congress represent U.S. citizens, not foreigners. Under the Democrats' open border policies, sanctuary cities and states inflate their population with illegal aliens. Then they’re rewarded with more congressional representation by a Census that counts illegals. The inflated count is then used to draw congressional maps, undermining fair representation for our citizens. To end this corruption, I am working with Rep. Chuck Edwards and Sen. Bill Haggerty to pass the Equal Representation Act. I look forward to voting for it on the House floor alongside 100 cosponsors of this urgent legislation.”
U.S. Representative Chuck Edwards (R-N.C.):
“Only American citizens can vote, so only American citizens should be counted when determining federal representation. In the 2008 Supreme Court case District of Columbia v. Heller, the justices defined ‘the people’ to mean all members of the political community. To be a member of a political community, you must be an eligible voter.
“The Equal Representation Act addresses one of the many consequences of our open border—illegal immigrant influence in America’s electoral process. America is waking up to this insidious threat to our democracy. The bill that I introduced—and that 100 of my colleagues have cosponsored—will make sure the American electorate has fair and equal representation in their government.”
In March, Heritage Action explained the rare move to Key Vote cosponsorship of the Equal Representation Act, alerting lawmakers that their decision on whether or not to formally back the bill would impact their score on the Heritage Action Scorecard, which shows voters and activists how conservative lawmakers are by comparing their policy positions to those of Heritage Action.
Heritage Action’s nationwide network of two million conservatives were asked to encourage their representatives to add their name to the legislation, driving thousands of calls to congressional offices and noticeable support on social media. The legislation received the support of all but one present Senate Republican in an amendment vote in March; not a single Senate Democrat voted for the measure.
A central purpose of the Census is to provide an accurate and fair count of the U.S. population—including the number of citizens and noncitizens. However, the Census citizenship question was abandoned in the 2010 questionnaire—after all but one Census conducted from 1820 to 2000 included a question about citizenship or place of birth for at least some portion of the population. The Census should not be used to take electoral power and representation away from American citizens in favor of illegal immigrants and states with sanctuary cities that manipulate population statistics.
More information about the legislation and Heritage Action’s decision to issue a Key Vote can be found in the brief pasted below and available online here. This Key Vote notification was sent to members of Congress.
BACKGROUND:
The Heritage Foundation: Apportionment and the Census: Fundamental Fairness to U.S. Citizens and Democratic Process
The Heritage Foundation: Citizenship Question Essential for Accurate U.S. Census
The Heritage Foundation: Only in the U.S. Is It Controversial for the Census to Ask About Citizenship