Rush Limbaugh puts onus on Republicans for dropping the ball on census citizenship questions

Evie Fordham, DCNF

Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh blamed Republicans for being asleep at the wheel when the citizenship question was removed from the U.S. census during a rare television appearance on “Fox & Friends” Friday morning.

“But this idea of who is a citizen and who isn’t, why did that question get taken off? That’s where everybody’s focus should have been, and I’ll put this on the Republicans,” Limbaugh said.

Limbaugh repeated the dubious claim that the citizenship question disappeared from the census because of former President Barack Obama’s administration. The Washington Post Fact Checker dinged White House adviser Kellyanne Conway for making a similar claim Tuesday, noting that the last time the decennial census included a citizenship question was 1950, although census officials have asked the question through other surveys more recently.

Fortune and The Associated Press put the claim under scrutiny as well, pointing out the Census Bureau finalized the 2010 census — without a citizenship question — in March 2008, while former President George W. Bush was in office.

“Obama takes the question off, the Republicans do what? Say nothing,” Limbaugh continued. “Then the Democrats get back, and — ‘We want to put it back on, President [Donald] Trump, it is common sense. Put it back on’ —The Democrats fight, propose, oppose, make it hell on Earth to try to get this done. This is a great illustration of the difference in the two parties and how they operate politically. I think it is outrageous that the desire to know who here is a citizen is controversial.”

Trump congratulated Limbaugh for his television appearance Friday morning.

Great job by Rush Limbaugh on @foxandfriends!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 12, 2019

Limbaugh’s appearance came after Trump announced Thursday he is dropping the fight for a citizenship question on the census and instead signed an executive order directing the Department of Commerce to obtain the information through other means. The Supreme Court delivered a mixed ruling on the administration’s pursuit of a citizenship question June 27.

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