As The Census Project reported in a January 7 blog, Congress recently unveiled details of a three-bill Fiscal Year 2026 appropriations minibus package, H.R. 6938, that included the Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) appropriations bill. Specifically, the CJS bill that was included in the minibus provides the Bureau with $1.5 billion in Fiscal Year 2026 — a slight increase over the agency’s FY 2025 funding level of $1.38 billion. The amount is less than the amount ($1.6765 billion) that the House Appropriations Committee recommended and census stakeholders supported. However, census stakeholders were pleased to see that the final agreement excluded a provision that the House Appropriations Committee had proposed in their version of the FY 2026 CJS appropriations bill. Section 605 of that bill would have limited the Census Bureau to no more than two follow-up inquiries across all of its surveys. If enacted, this language would have decimated response rates for all of the Bureau’s surveys and been especially consequential for the American Community Survey and decennial census.
On January 14, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 6938 by a vote of 341-79. The following day, the U.S. Senate passed the bill by a vote of 82-15. The bill now goes to the President for signature. Given the positive Statement of Administration Policy that was issued, the President is expected to sign the bill into law. If he does, the Census Bureau will be funded through September 30, 2026, when the current fiscal year ends.
Update: On January 23, the President signed H.R. 6938 into law, providing the Census Bureau with $1.5 billion in Fiscal Year 2026.
Fiscal Year 2026 Funding for Census Bureau Resolved
As The Census Project reported in a January 7 blog, Congress recently unveiled details of a three-bill Fiscal Year 2026 appropriations minibus package, H.R. 6938, that included the Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) appropriations bill. Specifically, the CJS bill that was included in the minibus provides the Bureau with $1.5 billion in Fiscal Year 2026 — a slight increase over the agency’s FY 2025 funding level of $1.38 billion. The amount is less than the amount ($1.6765 billion) that the House Appropriations Committee recommended and census stakeholders supported. However, census stakeholders were pleased to see that the final agreement excluded a provision that the House Appropriations Committee had proposed in their version of the FY 2026 CJS appropriations bill. Section 605 of that bill would have limited the Census Bureau to no more than two follow-up inquiries across all of its surveys. If enacted, this language would have decimated response rates for all of the Bureau’s surveys and been especially consequential for the American Community Survey and decennial census.
On January 14, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 6938 by a vote of 341-79. The following day, the U.S. Senate passed the bill by a vote of 82-15. The bill now goes to the President for signature. Given the positive Statement of Administration Policy that was issued, the President is expected to sign the bill into law. If he does, the Census Bureau will be funded through September 30, 2026, when the current fiscal year ends.
Update: On January 23, the President signed H.R. 6938 into law, providing the Census Bureau with $1.5 billion in Fiscal Year 2026.
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