TIME SENSITIVE
To: Census Project stakeholders
Fr: Terri Ann Lowenthal, Co-Director
As you know, this week, the House of Representatives considered the FY2016 Commerce, Justice, and Science Appropriations bill (
H.R. 2578). Between the committee mark and several floor amendments, the Census Bureau's budget took a beating, with overall funding reduced by more than 30 percent, most of it coming out of the Periodic Censuses and Programs account, which covers the 2020 Census, American Community Survey (ACS), and 2017 Economic Census. (The Periodics account was cut by 40 percent.) In addition, the House passed (by voice vote and late at night) the "Poe amendment" which, essentially, would make response to the ACS voluntary.
The Senate Appropriations Committee could take up its CJS bill as early as next week, although the schedule is not yet certain. Therefore, we have drafted
a sign-on letter for stakeholders to send to all committee Members next week. The letter urges the committee to fully fund the Census Bureau, reject the "ill-advised" House cuts, and reject the voluntary ACS amendment.
Due to the short time frame, we are asking organizations that signed last week's appropriations letter to the full House to
OPT-OUT of signing this letter.
The review copy of the Senate letter displays the list of signers for easy reference. Of course, we welcome and encourage new signers, so please share this request widely with your networks. The Senate is our line of defense in the face of a serious challenge to an accurate 2020 Census and robust ACS, so hopefully we can move forward with a strong showing of interest and support from a wide range of stakeholders.
If your organization would like to opt out of the Senate letter, OR if your organization is a new signatory that would like to add its name to the Senate letter, please email thecensusproject@gmail.com by Sunday, June 7, at 7 p.m. Eastern Time.
Thank you, as always, for your continued efforts!
