The Joint Economic Committee held a hearing, “The Economic Impact of Ending or Reducing Funding for the American Community Survey and other Government Statistics,” on June 19. The hearing was held in response to House passage of an amendment to the FY13 Commerce, Justice, and Science appropriations bill (H.R. 5326) on May 9 that would eliminate all funding for the American Community Survey (ACS) (see Memo, 5/11).

Representative Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) presided over the hearing and opened by emphasizing the critical role of the ACS in measuring the nation’s progress in recovering from the recession. She also noted that the “information from the ACS and the Economic Census can allow both the private and public sectors of our economy to be more efficient,” and noted the unique value of the ACS as the only dataset that “produces annual economic and social data for the nation down to the smallest geographic areas.” Ms. Maloney stated that she hoped this hearing would cause Congress to reconsider its decision to eliminate funding for these important surveys.

In his opening remarks, Vice Chair Kevin Brady (R-TX) said he recognizes the importance of the statistics produced by the ACS, but that “compulsory participation in the American Community Survey is the number one objection lawmakers… hear.” Mr. Brady continued, “if the Census Bureau were to make participation in the American Community Survey voluntary… rather than compulsory, I think most public opposition would disappear.”

Witnesses Kenneth D. Simonson of Associated General Contractors of America and National Association for Business Economics, and Andrew Reamer of George Washington Institute of Public Policy, both testified that making the ACS voluntary would destroy the reliability and timeliness of the data and would increase the costs associated with conducting the survey by requiring a larger sample size or an increase in follow-ups with unresponsive households.

Grant Aldonas of Split Rock International testified that he believes the federal government should attempt to look for alternative sources of data from the private market to provide the type of information currently collected in the ACS. However, Mr. Simmonson testified that past federal surveys that have been discontinued have not been replaced by the private market.

Click here for an archived hearing webcast and all witness testimony.
Click here for written testimony submitted for the hearing record by NLIHC.