Nick Reisman is reporting for State of Politics state Sen. Alessandra Biaggi said Mon., Jan. 25, the U.S. Census' 2020 head count should be extended by Congress to ensure a full survey of the public. The call for the extension comes following concerns raised last year over an undercount of people of color, immigrant communities, and low-income neighborhoods. The process was made all the more complicated by the pandemic. Federal aid is at stake, all the more important as New York and the U.S. look to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. “The pandemic, in addition to former President Trump’s callous campaign to jeopardize the census, has compromised the processing of the census data — threatening the quality and accuracy of the count," Biaggi said. "This is a major concern for all New Yorkers, but especially in the Bronx where our communities have been historically undercounted and need all the federal resources we can get to recover from the devastation wrought by COVID-19." New York could lose up to two seats in the House of Representatives given the state's lagging population growth compared to the rest of the country. Biaggi also called for President Joe Biden to appoint a permanent census director in addition to extending the count. Read the full story at nystateofpolitics [dot] com.