Attorney: Congressional seat data won’t be ready in January
January 4, 2021 2:43PM AKST
By MIKE SCHNEIDER Associated Press
A Trump administration attorney says the numbers used for deciding how many congressional seats each state gets won’t be ready until mid-February at the earliest. Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Coghlan said during a court hearing Monday that the U.S. Census Bureau had found new irregularities in the head count data that determines congressional seat allocations and the distribution of $1.5 trillion in federal spending each year. Not having the apportionment numbers finished before President-elect Joe Biden is sworn in on Jan. 20 will jeopardize an effort by President Donald Trump to exclude people in the country illegally from the apportionment count.