Raskin & Peters Call for Robust Census Bureau Funding to Ensure Accurate Count of Every Community
Washington, D.C. (October 25, 2024)— Rep. Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Accountability, and Senator Gary Peters, Chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, sent a letter to the leaders of the Senate and House Appropriations Committees, calling for robust funding for the U.S. Census Bureau as they work to finalize the final fiscal year 2025 (FY25) appropriations bills. Raskin and Peters stressed that the Census Bureau needs adequate funding as it prepares for the 2030 Decennial Census, which will help control long-term costs and ensure accurate counts of all populations, including rural and urban areas. Communities across the country, including Michigan and Maryland, depend on accurate census data for everything from school funding and classroom sizes to resources for road construction and Congressional representation.
“While we understand the pressures of this fiscal year, we request that you keep in mind the timeliness of adequate Census Bureau funding to help control long-term costs and meet critical national data needs,” wrote Ranking Member Raskin and Chairman Peters. “Given our oversight over the Census Bureau, we understand FY25 funding is particularly crucial for 2030 Census preparations and efficiency, as well as necessary economic data and crucial national surveys.”
In the letter, Raskin and Peters call for robust funding for the Census Bureau at a time when the Bureau is required to ramp up 2030 Census preparations. The Bureau needs sufficient funding this year to complete critical planning and testing for the 2030 Census, which is essential to ensure an accurate count. For the 2020 Census, inadequate funding forced the Bureau to cancel multiple key tests, including every planned test in a rural area and on American Indian reservations. These populations were then undercounted in the 2020 Census. Additional populations were undercounted in 2020, including children, African Americans, and the Hispanic or Latino populations, and adequate funding for preparations now will help reduce those undercounts in 2030. It will also help the Bureau better plan for long-term costs and avoid costly problems later in the census cycle. Sufficient funding is also crucial for other Census Bureau programs such as the Economic Census, supporting statistics that underlie the nation’s leading economic indicators.
Click here to read the letter.