As one of our million-plus FreedomWorks members nationwide, I urge you to contact your representative and ask him or her to cosponsor H.R. 931, to make participation in the American Community Survey (ACS) voluntary. Introduced by Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX), the bill would remove any criminal penalties imposed for not completing the ACS. The U.S. Census Bureau currently randomly selects 3 million Americans to fill out the ACS. If people refuse to complete the intrusive survey, they can be subjected to a fine up to $5,000. The bill would make the ACS optional by removing all fines for not completing the survey.

--The decennial census is mandated by Article 1 of the Constitution in order to keep seating in Congress proportional to state populations. But the ACS is an additional government survey that is not mandated in the Constitution. It is taken every year and cost hundreds of millions of dollars to administer.

--The survey contains extremely personal questions such as: how many people do you live with? What is your relationship with them? What race are they? Do you have serious difficulty walking or climbing stairs? Do you have difficulty dressing or bathing? Many Americans are understandably uncomfortable answering these private questions.

--The ACS additionally asks questions about your housing situation such as: how many automobiles do you have? Do you have a refrigerator? How much money do you think your house would sell for? This personal information is simply none of the government’s business. One can only imagine what federal bureaucrats are planning to do with this information.

--Americans should not be forced to fill out this long and intrusive survey. The bill would give everyone the choice on whether or not they want to submit such personal information to the federal government.