{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://bergman.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=1302", "Bergman Introduces Bill to Bolster Individual Liberty", "2024-08-02", "2024", "2024-08", "Republican", "House", "MI", "Jack Bergman", "B001301", "bergman.house.gov", "bergman", "https://bergman.house.gov/news/documentquery.aspx", "scraper", "Today, Representative Jack Bergman introduced the American Community Survey (ACS) Choice Act, a bill which prevents Americans from being harassed if they choose to not complete the American Community Survey.\n\n\u201cThroughout my time in Congress I\u2019ve heard from constituents who were being harassed by federal workers or threatened with legal action for choosing to not complete the American Community Survey. The ACS Choice Act will take the commonsense step of allowing those who don\u2019t wish to provide such unnecessary personal information to the federal government to opt out without the fear of fines or other repercussions. We must protect individual liberty at the expense of the government\u2019s thumb \u2013 not the other way around,\u201d Rep. Bergman said.\n\nThe U.S. Census \u2013 completed every 10 years \u2013 is an important, constitutionally-mandated process that is used to determine congressional districts and allocate federal spending. The ACS, however, is a separate, longer survey sent to a sample of more than 3 million households every year and includes far more specific and personal questions, taking roughly four times as long to complete as the decennial Census.\n\nFederal law states that those who refuse to complete the ACS will face a fine of up to $100. However, the Census Bureau has not actually fined or prosecuted anyone for failing to respond to a survey since 1970 \u2013 making this a toothless threat used to pressure participation.\n\nThe ACS Choice Act takes the commonsense step of removing the penalty for refusing to complete the American Community Survey. It will not alter the requirement to complete the 10-year Census, nor remove the penalties for providing intentionally incorrect answers.\n\nRead the full text of the bill here.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-07T21:36:13Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://bergman.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=1302"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.7407741397619247, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}