From: Census2000 &lt;Census2000(a)ccmc.org&gt; House Appropriations Panel Approves Census Funding Bill; Emergency Designation Draws Protests from Democrats The Census Bureau's funding bill for fiscal year 2000 (FY00) took another halting step forward as the House Committee on Appropriations approved the FY00 Commerce, Justice, State and The Judiciary spending measure on July 30. The bill (which is not yet numbered) includes $4.476 billion for Census 2000 operations, $3.4 billion over this year's level but $11.3 million below the Administration's request. The Commerce-Justice-State bill, one of 13 spending bills for all federal activities, allocates a total of $4.619 billion for all Census Bureau programs and expenses. The Census 2000 funds were designated as "emergency spending," exempting the money from a discretionary spending cap in the budget resolution adopted last spring. Budget rules allow lawmakers to designate certain funds as emergency spending, if the expenditure is "unforeseen, unpredictable, and unanticipated." The committee report explaining the spending bill states that the emergency designation is "due to the unanticipated costs associated with the recent Supreme Court decision regarding the conduct of the 2000 Census, and the delay in receiving the Administration's estimate of the cost" after the Court's January ruling on the use of sampling. At Friday's session, Rep. Harold Rogers (R-KY), who chairs the panel's Commerce subcommittee, said the Clinton Administration's failure in the past two years to provide a full cost estimate for the census forced appropriators to declare census operations an emergency. Democrats tried to eliminate the emergency designation during the 'mark-up' session. Rep. David Obey (D-WI), the committee's senior Democrat, offered two amendments, one to remove the designation from all Census 2000 funds and another to retain the emergency classification only for the $1.7 billion supplemental appropriation the President requested in June. Both amendments were defeated on party line votes. The Commerce bill earmarks spending on broad census operational categories. The $4.476 billion is distributed as follows (rounded to the nearest million): Program Development and Management, $20 million; Data Content and Products, $195 million; Field Data Collection and Support Services, $3.450 billion; Address List Development, $44 million; Automated Data Processing and Telecommunications Support, $447 million; Testing and Evaluation, $16 million; census operations in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Pacific areas, $71 million; and Marketing, and Communications, and Partnerships, $199 million. The Census 2000 appropriation also includes $3.5 million for the eight-member Census Monitoring Board. The Census Bureau is required to submit monthly spending reports to Congress. And in a move that Census Bureau Director Kenneth Prewitt warned could hamstring the Bureau if unexpected problems arise during the count, the measure requires the agency to seek approval from Congress before shifting money from one activity to another. The President's budget had included $25 million for the American Community Survey (ACS) in the Census 2000 account. The committee instead appropriated $20 million (a freeze at this year's funding level) for continued development of the ACS in a broader Census Bureau account. The ACS will provide updated demographic and socio-economic information every year, starting in 2003 for larger areas and for all communities by 2008. If fully implemented on schedule, the survey may eliminate the need for a traditional census long form in 2010. Additional committee concerns: Rep. Jose Serrano (D-NY), the senior Democrat on the Commerce appropriations subcommittee, advocated including the population of Puerto Rico in the total population of the United States. Currently, when the Census Bureau reports the nation's population, it includes the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Rep. Dan Miller (R-FL) opposed the idea, saying it represented a major policy change that deserved a thorough review. Rep. Miller, chairman of the census oversight subcommittee and also an appropriations panel member, pledged a hearing on the issue in the fall. The committee report explaining the spending bill directs the Census Bureau to study Rep. Serrano's proposal and report back to Congress by September 1. The committee also applauded as "a positive development" the decision to collect most of the same information from residents of Puerto Rico that is collected on the census short and long forms in the States. Rep. Serrano is Puerto Rican. In its report, legislators instructed the Census Bureau to develop methods for counting private American citizens living overseas in the census "at the earliest possible time," and to report its plans to Congress. The committee also urged the Bureau to ensure that deaf persons can participate in the census. Background on Census Bureau funding: Funding for the decennial census falls under the Periodic Censuses and Programs account ("Periodics"), one of two main funding categories for the Census Bureau. Periodics includes other cyclical programs such as the Census of Governments and the Economic Censuses, as well as support activities such as data processing infrastructure and geographic systems. The committee-approved FY00 bill allocates $4.619 billion for the Periodics account, about $19.2 million below the President's request (including the $11.3 million reduction from the request for Census 2000). The second main category, Salaries and Expenses, pays for ongoing statistical programs such as the Current Population Survey, which produce a wide range of economic, demographic, and social information. The appropriations committee allocated $136 million for these data activities, a freeze at this year's funding level and about $20.8 million below the Administration's request. Budget figure correction: The July 23 News Alert included an incorrect figure of $1.8 billion for this year's (fiscal year 1999) Census 2000 funding level. The correct figure is $1.072 billion (original $1.027 billion allocation plus a $45 million supplemental appropriation in May). We apologize for the error. Other legislative news: The House Subcommittee on the Census held a hearing on July 27 to review plans for a paid advertising campaign to promote Census 2000. The oversight panel heard testimony from Census Bureau Director Kenneth Prewitt; Ms. Terry Peel of Young & Rubicam, the firm developing the ad campaign; Mr. Sam Chisolm of the Chisolm-Mingo Group, the firm responsible for the portion of the campaign aimed at African Americans; and Mr. Curtis Zunigha, a member of the Bureau's Advisory Committee on the American Indian and Alaska Native Populations. A representative from Scholastic, Inc. was not available to discuss the Census in the Schools program, as originally planned. Due to the urgency of funding issues while Congress is in session, we will provide more information on the advertising oversight hearing in the near future. Interested stakeholders may request copies of the written testimony from the Subcommittee on the Census, at 202/226-1973. 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.