Underfunding the Census

In late May, the House of Representatives slashed President Obama’s FY 2016 budget request for the 2020 Census by more than one-third, approving the FY 2016 Commerce, Justice, and Science Appropriations bill (H.R. 2578) by a mostly party-line vote (242-183).

Last week, the Senate Appropriations Committee decided it also doesn’t want to spend the money to plan a proper census. Its version of the bill increases the account covering the 2020 Census by just $22 million over current year funding. To put that in perspective, the president requested a ramp-up of $317 million for the 2020 Census alone. The Periodic Censuses and Programs account also includes the American Community Survey (ACS) and 2017 Economic Census, as well as key activities that support these cyclical programs, such as building the address list and digital mapping system. To save some money, they could cancel the entire ACS and Economic Census.

Congress has said it wants to spend less on the 2020 Census than it did on the 2010 count, roughly $13 billion. It has instructed the Census Bureau to figure out how to offer and boost Internet response, use data gathered through other government programs to reduce the paper-pencil-brick-and-mortar-footprint, and contain costs. In response, the Census Bureau has embarked on an ambitious program of research, testing and development to bring these “modern” methods to fruition, without sacrificing accuracy.

But it costs money upfront to make sure these new operations work well and reach all segments of a culturally and geographically diverse population. What happens when the Census Bureau doesn’t have the money to figure it all out?

It could abandon most new initiatives, on the reasonable premise that it is too risky to deploy sweeping operational reforms without thorough evaluation and testing. Going back to the 2010 Census design will cost billions more. Which Congress has said it will not allocate. Should we abandon a robust communications campaign, in-language materials, local partnerships and start counting and stop when the money runs out?

Roughly one-quarter of all households don’t respond to the census upfront, if recent history is any guide. The most costly operation is tracking down the remaining, so-called “hard to count” residents, who disproportionately are people of color or live in low-income or limited English proficient households.

Committee Vice Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) was having none of it, calling the committee funding level “inadequate and irresponsible.” She proposed a $360 million boost for the Census Bureau; her amendment, which proposed funding increases for several agencies in the massive bill, failed on a party-line vote.

If there is less money to perform this annual function, what happens to the required data for redistricting?











NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker