To the Editor:
The U.S. Constitution requires a census be conducted every 10 years and it has been done since 1790. The results are used to determine the number of seats for each state in the U.S. House of Representatives and used to distribute more than $675 billion dollars in federal funds each year. In addition to its important government legislative purposes census data is used to make planning decisions within a city or county, such as where to build schools and roads.
With more than $675 billion dollars dispersed based on the census results it’s in the interest of every state and county to have the highest count they can get. Census workers say for every person not counted it could cost the congressional district up to $1,000 per person in lost funding every year. So every Carter County citizen matters in the 2020 census count. It’s the only time that homeless citizens are considered a benefit to a county. Several years ago one city mayor gave all the homeless in his city free one way tickets on the bus anywhere they wanted to go. The census count is done by mail, phone or online. For more info see www.census.gov. The census is hiring temporary workers.
President Trump gave up his effort to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census. Trump said instead he would sign an executive order to count U.S. citizens. The order would direct every federal department and agency to give all records related to the number of citizens and non-citizens to the Department of Commerce. Trump said, “It’s essential that we have a clear breakdown of the number of citizens and non-citizens that make up the U.S. populations.”
God doesn’t need to count and do surveys. God knows all of the 330 million Americans and the 7.6 billion people on Earth. Jesus died for all of them. Make your life count for Jesus because Jesus is the only one you can count on. The Bible says Christians’ citizenship is in heaven and Christians have a home in heaven. Therefore Christians can never be homeless or hopeless!

D.D. Nave
Elizabethton