From: Census2000 &lt;Census2000(a)ccmc.org&gt; Commerce Spending Bill Moves Forward With Full Funding for Census 2000 A House-Senate conference committee completed negotiations earlier this week on the fiscal year 2000 (FY00) spending bill covering the Census Bureau. The Commerce, Justice, and State, The Judiciary and Related Agencies Appropriations bill (H.R. 2670) allocates about $4.5 billion for Census 2000, the amount requested by the Clinton Administration and included in the House version of the measure. The Senate had allocated only $2.8 billion in its version. The $4.5 billion is considered "emergency spending," a designation first made by House appropriators that removes those funds from tight discretionary program spending limits set in previous budget agreements. The House and Senate are expected to vote on the 'conference report' this week before sending it to the President for his signature or veto. (The text of the conference bill and related 'report language' explaining the intent of lawmakers is in House Report 106-398.) Congress passed a second temporary funding bill (called a Continuing Resolution) yesterday to keep federal agencies operating past the October 21st deadline in the first stopgap bill. The President has signed only five of the thirteen annual Federal funding bills since the start of fiscal year 2000 on October 1. He is expected to sign the second Continuing Resolution while budget negotiations continue between the White House and congressional leaders. The conference agreement on the Commerce spending bill retains a provision in the House bill that requires the Census Bureau to obtain approval from Congress to shift funds between decennial census activities. The bill divides the $4.5 billion for Census 2000 among broad categories of census operations, such as advertising and promotion, field data collection, and data processing. In an October 15th letter to House Census Subcommittee Chairman Dan Miller (R-FL), Census Bureau Director Kenneth Prewitt called the reprogramming requirement "a dramatic departure from past practices" and said that significant delays in approving requests to transfer money could "compromise" census operations. "Decisions must be made quickly and frequently adjusted to adapt to ever-changing conditions in the field," Dr. Prewitt wrote. The director said that in previous spending bills, Congress has only required reprogramming notice and approval to shift funds between different agency programs. Advertising campaign launch: The Census Bureau will publicly launch the Census 2000 paid advertising campaign at a ceremony in Washington, D.C. on October 27. Our last News Alert (October 12) included an earlier tentative date for the event of October 28. Questions about the information contained in this News Alert may be directed to TerriAnn Lowenthal at 202/484-2270 or, by e-mail at terriann2k(a)aol.com. 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.