Opportunity to Support FY 26 Census Funding: Congressional Portal Submissions

Opportunity to Support FY 26 Census Funding: Congressional Portal Submissions

Re: TIPS ON FILING APPROPRIATIONS PORTAL REQUESTS
 
Congress is preparing for Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 appropriations, even though the President’s budget has not yet been submitted to Congress.
 
To inform their individual funding priorities and interests, members of Congress open web-based portals on their home pages to solicit input from stakeholders and constituents. As an example, Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) opened her FY 2026 appropriations request portal through February 28, 2025. The websites for members of the U.S. House of Representatives are accessible at www.house.gov, while the U.S. Senators’ sites are available at www.senate.gov. 
 
If your organization engages with federal policymakers and prioritizes funding for the U.S. Census Bureau, it is important to take advantage of this open opportunity to encourage full support for the Census Bureau in Fiscal Year 2026.
 
The portals are not standardized, and the level of requested information varies. However, at a minimum, most portals ask for a summary of the request and how the program impacts individuals in a member’s district or state (in 200 words or less). Below is language and funding level information your organization may use and adapt if you choose to submit requests in support of funding the U.S. Census Bureau in FY 2026.
 
If a member’s site prompts you to prioritize the request for your organization, please know that the higher you rank the priority, the more likely it will resonate with an office.
 
Thank you for considering this opportunity to communicate interest in funding the Census Bureau in FY 2026.
 
Funding Level

FY 2025 enacted—Under the current continuing resolution (CR), the U.S. Census Bureau is funded at its FY 2024 enacted funding level, $1.382 billion, through March 14, 2025, when the current CR expires.
 
FY 2026 Budget Request—Not available yet (President has not released yet)
 
FY 2026 Funding Recommendation – $2 billion
 
Suggested Summary of Programmatic Request for U.S. Census Bureau
Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 is a crucial year in the ramp up to the 2030 Census in which preparations and costs begin to exponentially increase. In FY 26, the Census Bureau will conduct the 2026 Census Test in six geographically and demographically diverse sites nationwide. The test is a critically important component of the decennial census planning cycle in which the Bureau evaluates new enumeration strategies and data collection technologies in the field. As we learned in the run up to the 2020 Census, shortchanging funding for testing at this point in the planning process introduces greater risk to a successful outcome. Adequate support for decennial census preparations now will reduce the risk of requiring unplanned, additional funding in the peak years at the end of the decade and improve the agency’s ability to conduct an inclusive, accurate count in 2030. In addition to fulfilling its Constitutional mandate to prepare for the next decennial census, the Bureau needs robust funding to sustain and enhance its other operations and surveys, including the American Community Survey and Population Estimates Program, which monitor changes in the U.S. population throughout the decade and guide the annual allocation of over $2.8 trillion in federal funding.