Dear ,
I write to express my concern for the FY16 budgets for the U.S. Census Bureau in the House and Senate
FY16 Commerce, Justice, Science appropriations bills and to urge the requested amount be enacted. I
also want to urge you not to adopt the House provision to make the American Community Survey (ACS)
voluntary. Full funding for the Census Bureau has the potential to save billions of dollars on the cost of
the 2020 decennial census if sufficient investments are made now. The mandatory ACS helps to make
government smarter and more efficient and also helps support economic growth and development in
the United States.
The House and Senate levels for the Census Bureau, $990 million and $1.13 billion, respectively, are well
below the FY16 requested level, $1.50 billion. The Census Bureau requested a $410 million increase over
the FY15 level, which tracks with past increases for this stage of the decadal census planning and
preparation. The estimated cost for the 2020 Census, which assumes sufficient funding for its planning
and preparation, is $13 billion, about the same as the 2010 census. While still a large cost, keeping the
cost of the 2020 decennial at the same level as the 2010 census would be a remarkable achievement
given two points: (i) 2011 GAO analysis warned the 2020 census could cost as much as $25-30 billion
unless major design changes are made1; (ii) decennial census costs have been steadily increasing on a
per-household basis because of the ever-growing complexities of a more diverse population and the
increasing challenges of survey response.2 The potential to keep the cost of the 2020 Census level at the
2010 level is a result of the Census Bureau’s extensive reengineering of the decennial census and the
Census Bureau but such savings can only be achieved with sufficient investment now for the various
tests and work to be done.
Removing the mandatory requirement for the ACS would significantly impact the quality and availability
of the ACS data, which is frequently referred to as the gold standard. We know from many sources—U.S.
Census Bureau research3, survey research, private sector experience, and Canada’s experience with
converting their mandatory long-form census to a voluntary survey4—that, with a voluntary ACS,
response rates would plummet from the high 90th percentile by at least 20-30 percentage points. To
compensate for lower response rates, the likely consequences would be
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More households would receive the survey in order to maintain number of respondents
ACS households not responding to survey would likely experience more contact from Census
Bureau urging them to respond
The Census Bureau estimates that an additional $90-$100 million/year would be required to
compensate for lower response rates5
“Census: Learning Lessons from 2010, Planning for 2020”, April 6, 2011 hearing of the Senate Homeland Security
and Government Affairs Committee, http://www.hsgac.senate.gov/subcommittees/federal-financialmanagement/hearings/census-learning-lessons-from-2010-planning-for-2020 (minute 4x:yy)
2
http://www.gao.gov/assets/670/669768.pdf
3
http://www.census.gov/library/working-papers/2011/acs/2011_Navarro_01.html
4
http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/NHS-ENM/2011/ref/about-apropos/nhs-enm_r012.cfm?Lang=E
5
https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/methodology/mandatory-voluntary-methods.html
Fewer respondents would result in lower quality data (i.e., larger margins of error and a less
representative sample), likely resulting in no data being published at all for less populous areas.6
The absence of data for the more rural portions of the United States and lower quality data could
undermine smart, efficient government and also hinder economic growth. Local, state, and federal
government use ACS for a wide gamut of its work, from directing federal assistance7 to where it is most
needed for insuring wise investments are made for such activities and infrastructure, services and
disaster preparedness. The private sector uses these data to make sure their investments pay off, which
means more jobs and tax revenue.
In short, full funding for the U.S. Census Bureau and a mandatory ACS benefits this country immensely.
6
https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/methodology/mandatory-voluntary-methods.html
Andrew D Reamer, “Surveying for Dollars: The Role of the American Community Survey in the Geographic
Distribution of Federal Funds,” Brooking Institution, 2010:
http://www.brookings.edu/reports/2010/0726_acs_reamer.aspx.
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