House panel threatens contempt of Congress vote against Barr, Ross

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top U.S. law enforcement officer and the Commerce secretary will face a contempt of Congress vote unless they hand over documents by Thursday on efforts to put a citizenship question on the 2020 Census, the chairman of a House of Representatives panel warned on Monday.

Representative Elijah Cummings, chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, sent letters to Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross warning them they had until Thursday to comply with the subpoena after having failed for two months to produce the documents.

Cummings sent the letters after an immigrant advocacy group said in a filing in a Manhattan federal court last week that a longtime Republican specialist on drawing electoral districts played a “significant role” in planning the citizenship question.

The filing charged that the Trump administration had concealed evidence that its proposal for the question was intended to help Republicans draw favorable electoral maps.

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