Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R) is set to introduce new legislation restructuring the census and protecting elections. President Donald Trump endorsed the bill after a phone call with Rep. Greene, expressing strong support.
If passed, Greene’s new bill would require the U.S. Census Bureau to conduct a new census upon enactment. For the new census, the bill would require questions determining the citizenship of each individual.
The census would then only count U.S. citizens. After that is completed, the bill would require states to immediately begin a redistricting of all U.S. House seats.
In this process, only the population of U.S. citizens would be used. This bill has drawn some attention, especially due to the redistricting procedure.
This procedure has the potential to kneecap Democrats’ electoral power by reducing the number of electoral college votes. It would also reduce the number of representatives available to the House.
Greene rallied for support on X. She stated, “Thank you President Trump for your strong support of my bill, Making American Elections Great Again!!! Let’s get this done!!!”
This kind of bill is not new to Congress. In May 2024, the House passed a similar bill excluding non-citizens from the census. It was blocked, however, by a Democratic-controlled Senate.
Rep. James Comer (R), a colleague of Greene, went to bat for this bill. He stated, “Some states end up with greater representation in Congress based on a higher concentration of noncitizens. This dilutes the ‘one person, one vote’ principle for citizens in states with fewer noncitizens.”
This kind of bill also raises constitutional questions. After all, the 14th Amendment directs the census to count the ‘whole number of persons in each state.’
On one hand, Greene’s new bill seems like a genuine attempt to strengthen the electoral power of U.S. citizens. On the other hand, it could be interpreted as a partisan attempt to increase Republican capability.
