By Larry Jones
October 22, 2007

Many of the Census Bureau’s plans in preparation for the 2010 census are up in the air at the moment because the Census Bureau has not received the additional funds it needs to ramp up for the up coming census count. Although the administration has requested a 38.5 percent increase and the Senate Appropriations Committee has approved a measure adding $18 million on top of that, Congress has not approved any of the 12 regular spending bills that funds federal agencies and programs in fiscal year 2008, which began on October 1. Consequently, the Census Bureau, like most other agencies, is operating on a continuing resolution which only allows spending at 2007 funding levels through November 16.

Temporary funding poses a unique problem for the Census Bureau because the agency needs the additional funds requested in the 2008 budget to get ready for the 2010 census. The funds are desperately needed to pay for preparations and testing activities, including the 2008 Census Dress Rehearsal and the Local Update of Census Addresses (LUCA) program. If the additional funds are not received, the Census Bureau will be forced to seriously cut back or cancel immediate preparations for the census.

This could have significant long-term adverse consequences. For example, according to Census Bureau Director Louis Kincannon, taxpayers will pay an estimated $1.5 billion more in costs if the Census Bureau returns to using paper forms instead of handheld computers scheduled for testing in the Dress Rehearsal. Also a delay in implementation of the LUCA program will impede the ability of states, cities, counties and towns to verify the census Bureau’s records of street-by-street addresses of all housing units to ensure none are missed.

To Address the Census Bureau’s immediate shortfall in funds, Representative Henry Waxman (CA), who chairs the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, along with Representatives William Lacy Clay (MO, Carolyn B. Maloney (NY), Paul W. Hodes (NH), C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger (MD) and John A. Yarmuth (KY) sent an October 11 letter to Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez urging him to transfer $7 million from the department to the Census Bureau to help keep 2010 census preparations on schedule and reduce part of a $59 million shortfall caused by the continuing resolution. So far there has been no response from the Secretary’s office.

Also it is still uncertain if Congress will approve the regular appropriation bill that funds the census. Even if such a bill passes, the President has threaten to veto it if it exceeds the funding level in his 2008 budget request, which in all likelihood it will.