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1 1 (September 17, 2019)

handle is hein.crs/govbbbg0001 and id is 1 raw text is: ~ Inf1r. in1 the leiltvedbt, sne11 September 17, 2019 Overview of FY2020 Appropriations for the Census Bureau Introduction This In Focus presents an overview of FY2020 discretionary budget authority for the Census Bureau, including the FY2020 budget request, related congressional actions, and comparisons with FY2019 funding. As a Department of Commerce (DOC) agency, the bureau is funded through the Departments of Commerce and Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS) appropriations bills. FY2020 Budget Request The Administration's $6,149.4 million FY2020 budget request for the Census Bureau is $2,328.0 million (60.9%) above the $3,821.4 million appropriated for FY2019. The FY2020 request is divided between the bureau's two major accounts, Current Surveys and Programs, and Periodic Censuses and Programs (PCP). Current Surveys and Programs The FY2020 request for Current Surveys and Programs is $264.0 million, $6.0 million (2.2%) less than the $270.0 million enacted for FY2019. This account consists of Current Economic Statistics and Current Demographic Statistics. Current Economic Statistics Current Economic Statistics include business, construction, manufacturing, general economic, foreign trade, and government statistics that, as the FY2020 budget justification for the Census Bureau states, provide critical information about the structure and function of the U.S. economy. These statistics, notes the justification, are integral to the formation of key economic indicators, such as the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The FY2020 request for Current Economic Statistics is $185.3 million, $411,000 (0.2%) above the $184.9 million approved in the bureau's FY2019 spending plan. Current Demographic Statistics Current Demographic Statistics include those from household surveys like the Current Population Survey (CPS), which is undertaken jointly by the Census Bureau and Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), is two-thirds funded by BLS, and provides monthly unemployment rates; analyses of population and housing characteristics, as in the Current Population Reports, which are based on CPS and other data and are the official source of U.S. income and poverty statistics; the Housing Vacancy Survey; intercensal demographic and housing unit estimates for the total United States and subnational geographic levels; and population projections into the future. The $78.7 million FY2020 Current Demographic Statistics request is $6.4 million (7.5%) less than the $85.1 million the FY2019 spending plan approved and is consistent with a proposed cut in the Survey of Income and Program Participation sample size. Periodic Censuses and Programs Under the FY2020 request, Periodic Censuses and Programs would receive $5,885.4 million, $2,334.0 million (65.7%) above the FY2019-enacted $3,551.4 million, and 95.7% of the Census Bureau's total FY2020 request, mainly to fund the 2020 decennial census. About $3.6 million of the amount for PCP would be transferred to the DOC Office of Inspector General (OIG) for continuing bureau oversight. Four major programs under PCP, plus the bureau's critical information technology initiative, are discussed below. 2020 Decennial Census The bureau's largest, most costly undertaking is the decennial census. Article I, Section 2, clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution, as amended by Section 2 of the 14th Amendment, requires a population census every 10 years, to serve as the basis for apportioning seats in the House of Representatives. Decennial census data also are used to redraw state congressional and legislative districts and, along with census-related American Community Survey (ACS) data and intercensal estimates, in formulas to determine states' and localities' annual allocations of federal funds, estimated at between $675 billion and over $800 billion. For the census in FY2020, the request is $5,297.0 million. The budget justification states that another $1,020.0 million in prior-year funds will be available for the census, plus $83.3 million in information technology support through the bureau's newly developed Census Enterprise Data Collection and Processing system (CEDCaP), totaling $6,400.3 million in FY2020 to support the census. The total amount, while not strictly comparable to the $3,015.1 million approved in the FY2019 spending plan, exceeds this figure by $3,385.1 million (112.3%) and reflects the peak year for census expenses. American Community Survey The ACS, which the bureau implemented nationwide in 2005 and 2006, is the replacement for the decennial census long form that, from 1940 to 2000, collected detailed socioeconomic and housing data from a sample of U.S. residents. The yearly ACS sample totals more than 3.5 million households, covering every U.S. county and the District of Columbia. The survey is sent monthly to small population samples; the results are aggregated to produce new estimates every year for areas with at least 65,000 people and every five years for areas from the most populous to those with fewer than 20,000 people. https://crsreports.congress.go'

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