U.S. House of Representatives Takes Steps to Fund Census Bureau In FY 24

On November 2, the U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee discharged its version of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS) appropriations bill, H.R. 5893—a necessary procedural step before the measure can be debated on the House floor. In addition, the Committee released an explanatory report to clarify the Committee’s funding priorities and specific interests in agencies funded by the CJS bill, including the U.S. Census Bureau.

The report reiterates the Census Bureau’s recommended FY 2024 funding level, which the House CJS subcommittee approved in July. The Subcommittee had recommended that the Census Bureau receive $1.354 billion, which is $131 million below the agency’s FY 2023 enacted level and approximately $252 million below the amount requested by the President.

The following census-related provisions are in the House report:  

Cyber vulnerabilities—The Committee is concerned that cybervulnerabilities could potentially be exploited by bad actors to undermine faith in census statistics. This includes both cyber-hackers in Census servers and efforts to use supercomputing to unmask the privacy of Census respondents. The Committee directs the Census Bureau to prioritize cyber protections and high standards of data differential privacy, while also maintaining the accuracy of the data. The Committee expects the Bureau to keep the Committee updated on these efforts.

Current Population Survey—The Committee understands that annual estimates of the Official Poverty Measure and the Supplemental Poverty Measure come from the Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC) sample of the Current Population Survey (CPS). The Committee further understands that the CPS is a monthly survey of employment and labor force activity, and the March sample has additional questions measuring incomes over the prior calendar year that allow both the Census and academic researchers to measure poverty. As with all surveys, estimates are limited by the statistical power associated with the sample size.

Annual poverty data collection—The Committee recognizes that the cost of collecting data for CPS to maintain current sample size and quality requirements has increased significantly over recent years. The Committee also recognizes the interest in poverty measures for discrete populations. Within the funds provided, the Committee urges the Census Bureau to update the June 2020 feasibility report on increasing the sample size of the March supplement of the CPS and to review the feasibility of expansion in the remaining territories and to report to the Committee on these efforts no later than 120 days after the enactment of this Act.

Panel survey implementation—The Committee is concerned about the lack of transparency related to the Census Bureau’s plans for implementation of a panel survey, the expanding scope, and the findings in the Office of Inspector General (OIG)’s February 2023 report entitled, ‘‘The Census Bureau Can Improve Processes to Promote Transparency of Cooperative Agreements,’’ (OIG– 23–011–1). The Committee is further concerned about the use of taxpayer dollars for the development of a panel survey given the wide range of options that currently exist in the private sector for these types of activities. The Committee directs the Census Bureau to provide a report to the Committee, no later than 60 days after the enactment of this Act, on the panel’s methodology, data collection processes, implementation, incurred and projected costs, and procurement strategy to allow the Committee to evaluate the project’s use of Federal resources.

In addition, on page 110 in the “General Provisions” section of the report, the Committee included language affecting the Census Bureau. Section 559 would require the Census Bureau to exclude persons who are unlawfully in the United States from state population totals used for apportionment. The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights drafted talking points urging Congress to reject this language. Representative Grace Meng (D-NY-6) has drafted an amendment to strike this language when the bill is debated on the House floor.

On October 25, the House Rules Committee, which determines the timing of bills brought to the House floor, announced that the House of Representatives may consider the FY 2024 CJS bill the week of November 13.

As of November 6, the U.S. Senate had not announced a timeline for debating its version of the FY 24 CJS appropriations bill on the floor.