23 Jul
2001
23 Jul
'01
10:28 p.m.
From: Census2000 <Census2000(a)ccmc.org>
House of Reps Approves Census Bureau Funding,
Designates Money to Explore Count of Overseas Americans
Plus: Senate Committee Clears Census Bureau Funding;
Hearing Scheduled on Counting Overseas Americans;
Census Bureau To Release ACS Test Data
On July 18, the House of Representatives approved funding for Census
Bureau activities in fiscal year 2002 (FY02) as part of the Commerce,
Justice, and State, The Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations
bill (H.R. 2500), one of 13 regular annual spending bills that fund all
federal government programs. The House agreed to an amendment offered
by Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) that designates money to plan for a count
of private American citizens living abroad in the next census.
Lawmakers narrowly rejected two other census-related amendments
sponsored by Rep. Maloney, a member of the census oversight
subcommittee.
The $38.5 billion Commerce spending measure, approved by a vote of 405 -
19, allocates $519.8 million for Census Bureau programs in the fiscal
year beginning October 1, 2001. The amount is $23.6 million below
President Bush's budget request, but a $25 million carryover from
previous years will give the Bureau $544.8 million to spend in FY02.
The House appropriated $350.4 million for Periodic Censuses and
Programs, which includes dissemination of Census 2000 data, planning for
the 2010 census, and continued development of the proposed American
Community Survey (ACS). The $25 million carryover, earmarked for Census
2000-related activities, brings the total spending level in this account
to $375.4 million. The Bureau received $169.4 million for its Salaries
and Expenses account, which covers ongoing statistical programs and
surveys.
The spending bill provides the full $29 million requested for the
so-called "Long Form Transitional Database," which includes the first
national-scale test (the Census 2000 Supplementary Survey) for the ACS.
Another $27.1 million, under the Continuous Measurement program, covers
continued data collection in the 31 ACS test sites.
House adopts amendment on counting overseas Americans: Lawmakers
adopted, by voice vote, Rep. Maloney's amendment on counting Americans
abroad in the census. The proposal shifts $2.5 million from the Census
2000 account to the 2010 census account, to plan for a count of overseas
Americans in the 2010 census. Last year, appropriators directed the
Census Bureau to submit a report to Congress on the feasibility of
counting private American citizens abroad. That report is due September
30.
Speaking in support of her amendment, Rep. Maloney estimated that three
to six million Americans who are not federal or military personnel are
living outside of the United States. These Americans, she said, vote,
pay taxes, and "make huge contributions to our economy each year." In
Census 2000, the Census Bureau used information from administrative
records to include members of the armed forces and federal civilian
employees in the state population totals used for congressional
apportionment. The State of Utah challenged that policy in court,
claiming it was unfairly denied a fourth congressional district because
private American citizens living abroad, such as Mormon missionaries,
were not counted. A three-judge federal panel unanimously rejected
Utah's challenge earlier this year; the state has appealed to the U.S.
Supreme Court.
Census Subcommittee Chairman Dan Miller (R-FL), who also serves on the
Appropriations Committee, agreed to the Maloney amendment. Rep. Miller
said the Bureau and Congress must determine who should be included in a
count of Americans living abroad, but that "[o]ur goal is to have them
counted in the 2010 census." The congressman also cautioned that $2.5
million was "an arbitrary number" for the planning effort and that he
would consult with the Census Bureau to include the necessary amount of
money in the final bill. Rep. Benjamin Gilman (R-NY), a former chairman
of the Committee on International Relations who also spoke in support of
the amendment, has introduced legislation calling on the Census Bureau
to include private American citizens living outside of the United States
in the decennial census.
House rejects Maloney-Kucinich amendment on street and shelter data: A
second amendment offered by Rep. Maloney and Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH)
would have set aside $500,000 for the Census Bureau to publish data on
the number of people counted at shelters, food kitchens, and on the
streets during the Census 2000 Service-Based Enumeration (SBE). The
House defeated the proposal, 217-209.
The Census Bureau conducted a separate nighttime count of people without
a usual residence over a three-day period in late March 2000. The
Bureau worked with local governments and community service providers to
identify, in advance, outdoor locations, food kitchens and vans,
shelters for the homeless, and other sites where people who had no
permanent address at that time might gather. However, the Bureau
decided not to report separately the number of people counted on the
streets or in shelters and food kitchens, below the national level.
Bureau spokespeople have said the data could be misinterpreted as a
count of the homeless population and have pointed to criticism of the
1990 Street and Shelter Night count, which advocates for the homeless
contended was highly inaccurate. Instead, the Census 2000 counts of
people on the streets and in shelters were included in the numbers for
non-institutional group quarters such as college dormitories.
Nationally, the Census Bureau said it counted about 280,000 people
during the Service-Based Enumeration.
Rep. Maloney said many local governments and community groups helped
facilitate the Census 2000 street and shelter count, with some providing
incentives (such as blankets) to cooperate with census takers and others
training local residents to help enumerators interview wary people.
While "no one should delude themselves that this is an accurate count of
the homeless," the congresswoman said, "[t]his is not a good reason to
suppress these data." Rep. Maloney said the Census Bureau recently
agreed to release a report on the SBE this fall, elaborating on the
information collected from people at shelters and food service
locations. She suggested that the report could "clearly describe just
what these data do and do not represent." Her amendment would have
earmarked funds for that report. After homeless advocates strongly
objected to the 1990 census Street and Shelter Night counts, the Bureau
agreed to include a caveat in data publications, clarifying that the
numbers did not represent a count of the homeless.
Rep. Kucinich said the SBE data released so far "is not in a format
useful to local governments." The former Cleveland mayor argued that
only local data would "enable communities to determine what services are
needed" for their residents. He emphasized that the count of people in
shelters and living on the streets was not meant to be an official count
of the homeless, but that "to withhold the information or to say it
might be misinterpreted really is to lose an opportunity to get a
broader assessment of the picture of homelessness in this country."
Rep. William L. Clay, Jr. (D-MO), the ranking Democrat on the census
oversight subcommittee, said a special report on the data collected
during the SBE would "give local governments and community groups a way
of evaluating their efforts." He said the only way to improve the
accuracy of such a count "is to make it public and to enlist the efforts
of all involved in improving those data in the next census."
Rep. Miller opposed the Maloney-Kucinich amendment, saying that
"professionals at the Bureau" believe the street and shelter counts are
"not accurate information to release." The congressman released a
letter signed by the National Alliance to End Homelessness, the National
Coalition for the Homeless (a member of the Commerce Department's
Decennial Census Advisory Committee), and the National Law Center on
Homelessness and Poverty, in support of "the Census Bureau's decision
not to release a separate homeless count in the 2000 Census." The
advocacy groups said that "people without housing should be counted by
the Census," but that publishing separate counts of people "enumerated
in homeless situations... would be inaccurate and misleading."
"[H]omelessness is not a permanent condition, but a state of extreme
poverty marked by a temporary lack of housing. ...A one-day, or
'snapshot' estimation of homelessness therefore distorts the reality of
homelessness for most people who experience it," the advocates wrote.
They also noted that census takers were not able to visit all shelters,
service facilities, or outdoor sites where people might spend the night.
In response, Reps. Maloney and Kucinich said many local service
providers wanted the Census Bureau to release the street and shelter
counts for their communities. They cited statements from the Northeast
Ohio Coalition for the Homeless, Baltimore's Office of Homeless
Services, Seattle's Strategic Planning Office, and other organizations
that said they had expected to see detailed results from the
Service-Based Enumeration after helping the Bureau carry out the
operation.
Lawmakers split on proposal to improve Hispanic subgroup data: A third
Maloney amendment to the Commerce spending bill failed on a rare tie
vote of 215-215. Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) joined the congresswoman in
an effort to earmark $2 million to fill in gaps in the reporting of
Hispanic subgroups in Census 2000.
Rep. Maloney contended that a change in the wording of the so-called
'Hispanic origin' question led to a significant jump in the number of
respondents who identified themselves as Hispanic or Latino but failed
to write-in a specific subgroup, such as Dominican or Nicaraguan. Both
the 1990 and 2000 census forms specified three subgroups - Puerto Rican,
Mexican, and Cuban - that people of Hispanic origin could check. The
1990 question instructed respondents checking "Other Hispanic" to print
one group and gave examples, such as Argentinean and Salvadorian. In
2000, the "Other Hispanic" option was followed only by the instruction,
"Print group," leading some people to write in "Hispanic" or
"Latino"
instead of a specific subgroup. As a result, Rep. Maloney said, 17
percent of Hispanics were identified simply as "Other Hispanic" in 2000,
compared to 1.9 million in 1990, making comparisons in growth of
specific population groups over the decade difficult.
Nationally, the Hispanic population grew by 58 percent between 1990 and
2000. But Census 2000 data showed a 15 percent decline in the number of
Nicaraguans and a drop in the number of Panamanians, for example, even
as the number of "Other Hispanics" grew from 2 million to 6 million,
Rep. Maloney noted. She suggested that the Census Bureau could use data
reported on the long form, which asked for a person's ancestry or
national origin as well as their place of birth, to produce more
accurate estimates for Hispanic subgroups, an editing procedure she said
was used in 1990.
Rep. Rangel, whose Harlem-based district is home to many Dominican
Americans, said that the Bureau should "give us a clearer understanding
of who we call Hispanic." Rep. Jose Serrano (D-NY), the ranking
Democrat on the Commerce appropriations subcommittee, described the
"Other Hispanic" category as "this incredible new number that, one, we
do not know how to service; two, we do not know where they come from;
and three, we do not know how best to deal with all of their needs."
Rep. Miller, who opposed the amendment, said that the proposal "may be
well intended, but it sets a dangerous precedent." He argued that the
Census Bureau could not determine the national origin of a respondent
who wrote in "Hispanic" instead of a specific subgroup and suggested
that the long form would yield more detailed information. "[W]e cannot
go back and change what people put down on the short form now," the
congressman argued. Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA), chairman of the Commerce
appropriations subcommittee, also spoke against the amendment, saying
"the professionals [at the Census Bureau] would be opposed to this."
Senate committee approves Bureau funding: The FY02 Commerce, Justice,
State and Judiciary spending bill began moving through the U.S. Senate,
as the Committee on Appropriations approved its version of the measure
on July 19. The Commerce appropriations subcommittee, chaired by Sen.
Ernest F. Hollings
(D-SC), did not vote on the bill separately.
According to preliminary information from the committee, the $41.49
billion bill includes $517.1 million for Census Bureau programs in
FY02. The Periodic Censuses account is funded at $348.5 million, about
$2 million below the House-passed level. (The prior-year carryover
brings the total spending level for this account to $375.5 million.)
The Senate bill designates $26.2 million for Continuous Measurement
(covering the ACS test sites), about $1 million below the House-approved
funding level. The Bureau received $168.6 million for its Salaries and
Expenses account.
Congressional hearing scheduled: The House Subcommittee on the Census
will hold a hearing on Thursday, July 26, on "Americans Abroad: How Can
We Count Them?" The subcommittee had not released a witness list, but
groups representing private American citizens living outside of the
United States are expected to be among those testifying. The hearing
will start at 1:30 p.m. in Room 2247 Rayburn House Office Building, and
is open to the public.
Census Bureau to release ACS test data: The Census Bureau will release
data from the Census 2000 Supplementary Survey (C2SS) at a Washington,
D.C. press conference on July 31. (Please note this has changed from the
original date.) The C2SS, the first national-scale test of the proposed
American Community Survey, collected data from 700,000 housing units
during the decennial census year. The survey questions were
substantially similar to those found on the Census 2000 long form. The
initial C2SS data release includes information for the nation, the 50
states, and the District of Columbia. In the fall, the Census Bureau
will publish additional C2SS data for most counties and cities with
250,000 population or greater. At the July 31st press event, the
Bureau also will release data from 21 of the 31 ACS test sites, for
geographic areas and population groups with 65,000 population or
greater.
New ACS resource materials available: Two new Fact Sheets on the Census
Bureau's proposed American Community Survey are now posted on the Census
2000 Initiative web site. Go to www.census2000.org
<http://www.census2000.org> for "The American Community Survey in Brief:
Key Policy and Operational Issues" and "Meeting 21st Century Data Needs:
From the Census Long Form to the American Community
Survey."
Questions about the information contained in this News Alert may be
directed to Terri Ann Lowenthal at 202/484-2270 or, by e-mail at
<terriann2k(a)aol.com>om>. For copies of previous News Alerts and other
information, use our web site www.census2000.org
<http://www.census2000.org>. Please direct all requests to receive News
Alerts, and all changes in address/phone/fax/e-mail, to the Census 2000
Initiative at <Census2000(a)ccmc.org> or 202/326-8700. Please feel free to
circulate this information to colleagues and other interested
individuals.