The Census Bureau released publicly a wide-range of additional 2004 ACS
data products, which includes tables on means of transportation to work
by workplace geography. The Census Bureau plans to update and improve
its ACS data products for 2005. Data users may submit feedback to:
cmo.acs(a)census.gov no later than COB Tuesday, February 28, 2006. See
http://www.census.gov/acs/www/
--
Ed Christopher
Resource Center Planning Team
Federal Highway Administration
19900 Governors Drive
Olympia Fields, Illinois 60461
708-283-3534 (V) 708-574-8131 (cell)
708-283-3501 (F)
I will be out of the office starting 02/07/2006 and will not return until
02/28/2006.
Ron no longer works for the City of Greenville.
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PRESIDENT SENDS FY07 BUDGET
TO CONGRESS
PLUS: ACS Spared From Budget Cuts in 2006;
Census Dress Rehearsal Sites Set; and more
President Bush sent his detailed Fiscal Year 2007 (FY07) budget proposal
to Congress on February 6, setting in motion the process for funding
federal programs starting October 1, 2006. The budget seeks $878.2
million for the Census Bureau, nearly a ten percent increase over this
years funding level of $801.9 million but less than one percent more
than the President requested for Fiscal Year 2006 (FY06). A year ago,
the President requested an 18 percent increase for the Census Bureau
from 2005 to 2006.
In a statement on the Presidents budget, Commerce Secretary Carlos
Gutierrez said the increase requested by the Administration will help
reengineer the collection of basic census data to meet constitutional
and legal mandates in preparation for the 2010 Decennial Census,
implement the American Community Survey to obtain detailed annual data,
and modernize the Bureaus geographic database. The overall request of
$6.1 billion for the Commerce Department, the Secretary said, maintains
the Departments priorities of promoting job growth and U.S.
competitiveness while also restraining discretionary Federal spending.
The Administration requested $511.8 million to continue planning the
2010 census, an increase of $64 million (about 14 percent) over the FY06
appropriation of $447.8 million. The three components of a reengineered
decennial census focus on reducing operational risk, improving
accuracy, providing more relevant data, and containing cost, the budget
documents said. The Census Bureau will continue planning and testing a
census that collects only basic demographic data needed to fulfill
constitutional and legal mandates; implementing the American Community
Survey (ACS) to replace the traditional census long form; and updating
its geographic database (Master Address File and TIGER digital mapping
system) and aligning map features with Global Positioning System
coordinates.
In FY07, the Census Bureau will prepare for the 2008 Census Dress
Rehearsal, developing software, hardware, and telecommunications
infrastructure for Local Census Offices, technology to assist with
address canvassing before the dress rehearsal starts, and data
processing systems. The Census Bureau is also required by law (Title
13, U.S.C.) to submit proposed topics for 2010 census questions to
Congress by April 1, 2007, three years before Census Day. Because there
will not be a long form in 2010, the Census Bureau will likely submit
topics for the short form and finalize questions for the American
Community Survey.
The Presidents FY07 budget does not specify the amount of 2010 census
funds to be used for the ACS; however, other Census Bureau documents
indicate a proposed appropriation of roughly $180 million for the
survey. The first American Community Survey estimates for places of
65,000 or greater population will be released this summer.
Congressional district level data will be available in August 2007. The
Census Bureau added group quarters to the survey for the first time this
year.
The Administration is seeking $73.7 million for the MAF/TIGER
Enhancements Program, less than the program received in 2006 due to
anticipated completion of MAF and TIGER database modernization and
consolidation this year. The budget calls for correcting geographic
locations in an additional 690 counties in 2007 as part of the
multi-year effort to improve TIGER accuracy.
Funding for the decennial census is part of the Periodic Censuses and
Programs (Periodics) account, one of two main funding categories for
the Census Bureau. The Presidents budget seeks $694.1 million for
Periodics in FY07, an increase of $87.7 million over FY06. The
Periodics account covers activities related to the census, intercensal
population estimates, and other cyclical programs.
Economic statistics: In 2007, the Census Bureau prepares for the
quinquennial Economic Census and Census of Governments, taken in the
years ending in 2 and 7. The data is collected in early 2008,
reflecting 2007 activities and information. The President requested
$82.4 million for the Economic Census, an increase of $15.0 million over
FY06, to print questionnaires, develop processing systems, begin
outreach to the top 500 companies, and create a mailing list. The
Economic Census, funded through the Periodics account, covers the
manufacturing, mining, retail and wholesale trade service, construction,
and transportation industries.
The second main funding category for the Census Bureau is Salaries and
Expenses (S & E). The budget proposes $184.1 million for S & E, $11.5
million less than this years appropriation of $195.5 million. The S &
E account covers ongoing surveys to collect important demographic,
economic, and social data. The President did not request funds for the
Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), signaling the Census
Bureaus intention to significantly restructure its data on income and
poverty. No further details are available at this time, but the Census
Bureau will continue to measure income and poverty through the Current
Population Survey and the American Community Survey.
The Census Bureau is one of two statistical agencies under the purview
of the Commerce Departments Economic and Statistics Administration
(ESA). The second agency, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA),
produces key economic statistics, including Gross Domestic Product, that
support U.S. monetary and fiscal policies, trade negotiations, business
planning, and personal savings and investment decisions. The President
proposed a budget of $76.5 million for BEA in FY07, an increase of $1.2
million over the FY06 funding level of $75.3 million. The request will
allow BEA to continue to produce some of the Nations most important
economic statistics and to preserve the significant advances made by BEA
over the past 5 years, according to a statement from the agency, but
does not include money for any new initiatives in 2007.
2006 Funding Recap:
"We also have funded the Census Bureau at $812 million, which allows the
census to move forward with the 2010 census. The census is America's
database, and we need to keep it contemporary." U.S. Senator Barbara
Mikulski, 11/16/05
I am especially pleased that we were able to fund the Census Bureau at
the higher House level. This will allow for the continuation of the
important American Community Survey which provides accurate, up-to-date
information on housing, demographic and socioeconomic conditions in our
country. U.S. Representative Jose Serrano, 11/9/05
Congress gave final approval in November to the Census Bureaus funding
bill for Fiscal Year 2006, sparing the agency from deep budget cuts
proposed earlier in the year by the Senate. President Bush signed the
Science, State, Justice, Commerce, and Related Agencies Appropriations
Act into law on November 22 (Public Law 109-108).
The spending bill allocated $812.237 million for Census Bureau programs,
$65 million less than President Bush requested for the fiscal year that
began October 1. The Census Bureau received enough money to continue
fielding the American Community Survey (ACS) for a second year and to
add group quarters to the survey for the first time.
However, an across-the-board rescission that applied to all
discretionary programs in the bill reduced that amount by 0.28 percent.
Congress further reduced funding for all discretionary programs by one
percent when it passed the Defense Appropriations measure in December.
During debate on the final conference bill (H.R. 2862), House
appropriations subcommittee Chairman Frank Wolf (R-VA) said the funding
increase for the Census Bureau would result in more accurate and timely
census data. Many lawmakers in both chambers highlighted their
concerns about funding levels for law enforcement and anti-drug
programs, perhaps foreshadowing continued competition for scarce
resources in the Science/Justice/Commerce account in future years. Last
June, the House approved an amendment that shifted $20 million from the
Census Bureau to local law enforcement and international interdiction
programs to fight the growing use of methamphetamines.
2008 Dress Rehearsal set for CA and NC: The Census Bureau will conduct
a dress rehearsal for the 2010 decennial census in San Joaquin County,
CA, and a nine-county region including and surrounding Fayetteville, NC,
in 2008. The California site, just south of Sacramento, site of the
1998 dress rehearsal, was chosen as representative of an urban location
with a multilingual population and an assortment of group quarters
housing, the bureau said. The North Carolina site represents a mix of
both [sic] urban, suburban and rural areas and has two military bases.
The counties of Chatham, Cumberland, Harnett, Hoke, Lee, Montgomery,
Moore, Richmond and Scotland are part of the NC site.
Census Director C. Louis Kincannon called the traditional dress
rehearsal an opportunity for the Census Bureau to conduct an
operational test of the overall design for the 2010 Census. While we
have tested certain parts of the plan, the dress rehearsal is our first
opportunity to see how well all of the pieces fit together.
House panel plans more oversight in 06: The House Subcommittee on
Federalism and the Census will conduct a series of hearings this year,
including some in the field, to monitor planning for the 2010 census,
according to a top congressional staffer. Speaking at the quarterly
meeting of the Council of Professional Associations on Federal
Statistics in December, John Cuaderes, the panels staff director, said
the hearings would especially focus on the use of new technologies in
2010 and the role of contractors in developing infrastructure for census
operations. Other possible hearing topics include the Local Update of
Census Addresses (LUCA) and Post Census Local Review programs;
modernizing and updating census address lists and digital maps; and
enhancing the American Community Survey to track Hurricane Katrina
evacuees, a particular interest of subcommittee Chairman Michael Turner
(R-OH).
Mr. Cuaderes also told meeting participants that congressional overseers
are discussing the establishment of an independent board to monitor the
2010 census, a proposal reminiscent of the Census Monitoring Board
created in the late 1990s. An independent panel could be a useful
tool, Mr. Cuaderes said, but the composition would be fairer than its
2000 census predecessor. The eight members of the previous monitoring
board were appointed in equal numbers by President Clinton and
Republican leaders in Congress, with co-chairs from each political
party.
Commenting on the uphill battle to secure adequate funding for the
Census Bureau in 2006, Mr. Cuaderes predicted that the American
Community Survey would be vulnerable to budget cuts in Congress for
another six years. He urged stakeholders to develop a comprehensive,
coherent stratgey for educating lawmakers about the surveys
importance.
Census News Briefs are prepared by Terri Ann Lowenthal, an independent
consultant in Washington, DC, with support from The Annie E. Casey
Foundation and other organizations. Ms. Lowenthal is also a consultant
to The Census Project, sponsored by the Communications Consortium Media
Center. All views expressed in the News Briefs are solely those of the
author. Please direct questions about the information in this News
Brief to Ms. Lowenthal at 202/484-3067 or by e-mail at
TerriAnn2K(a)aol.com. Please feel free to circulate this document to
other interested individuals and organizations.
-------
Ed Christopher
708-283-3534 (V)
708-574-8131 (cell)
FHWA RC-TST-PLN
19900 Governors Dr
Olympia Fields, IL 60461
I will continue to repost Terriann's News Briefs as I receive them.
----------------------
Subject: Census News Briefs to resume
Date: Sun, 5 Feb 2006 18:06:51 EST
From: Terriann2K(a)aol.com
Hello, census stakeholders. Happy New Year!
Census News Briefs will resume this week, with a report on the
President's Fiscal Year 2007 budget request, a summary of Fiscal Year
2006 funding for the Census Bureau, and updates on Census 2010
planning. While the focus of Census News Brief is the American
Community Survey and 2010 census, I also will report on relevant policy
issues affecting Commerce Department economic statistics (2007 Economic
Census, ongoing surveys such as SIPP, and funding for the Bureau of
Economic Analysis), to help the growing number of stakeholders
(especially from business and industry) interested in these data.
The Census Project, a diverse and broad coalition of census stakeholder
organizations, also is set to kick-off its activities for 2007.
Organized by the Communications Consortium Media Center in Washington,
DC, with generous support from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the
non-partisan Census Project aims to educate policymakers and other
stakeholders about the importance of accurate and comprehensive census
data. Please visit the web site often for updates on key issues and
previous Census News Briefs (www.thecensusproject.org). Census Project
stakeholders will meet on Tuesday, February 21, 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM, at
1200 New York Avenue, NW, Washington, DC (the AAAS building). Please
let me know if your organization has not participated
in the past but would like to join the 2007 kick-off meeting on February
21.
Thanks!
Terri Ann Lowenthal
Legislative & Policy Consultant
Washington, DC 20024
--
Ed Christopher
708-283-3534 (V)
708-574-8131 (cell)
FHWA RC-TST-PLN
19900 Governors Dr
Olympia Fields, IL 60461