Free Daily Headlines :

  • COVID-19
  • Money
  • Election 2020
  • Politics
  • Education
  • Health
  • Justice
  • More
    • Environment
    • Economic Development
    • Gaming
    • Investigations
    • Social Services
    • TRANSPORTATION
  • Opinion
    • CT Viewpoints
    • CT Artpoints
DONATE
Reflecting Connecticut’s Reality.
    COVID-19
    Money
    Election 2020
    Politics
    Education
    Health
    Justice
    More
    Environment
    Economic Development
    Gaming
    Investigations
    Social Services
    TRANSPORTATION
    Opinion
    CT Viewpoints
    CT Artpoints

LET�S GET SOCIAL

Show your love for great stories and out standing journalism

Connecticut’s researchers decry Congress’ effort to kill census program

  • by Ana Radelat
  • May 15, 2012
  • View as "Clean Read" "Exit Clean Read"

Washington — Congress’ move to abolish the American Community Survey, a U.S. Census program that reveals how Americans live, work and shop, has provoked an outcry from academics, researchers, local officials and even the business community who rely on the data.

The amendment to abolish the survey — a measure expected to gain no traction in the Senate — was approved by a 232-190 vote in the U.S. House, with 228 Republicans voting yes, and 10 Republicans voting no. Four Democrats (none from Connecticut) voted to abolish the ACS, and 180 voted no.

“I find this very shortsighted,” said Lynne Hodgson, a sociology professor at Quinnipiac University. “(The American Community Survey) is helpful to everybody.”

Hodgson also called the attempt to end the ACS “an attack on empirical evidence used in social programming.”

But conservatives in Congress say the ACS, which will cost about $2.4 billion over the next 10 years, is too expensive and too intrusive.

During the debate in the House last week on a spending bill that funds the Commerce Department, which oversees the U.S. Census Bureau, conservative Republicans voted first to prevent the bureau from imposing fines on people who don’t fill out the ACS “long form” that collects detailed data on about 3 million households each year.

Then Rep. Daniel Webster, R-Fla., won support for an amendment that would abolish the ACS, saying it is unconstitutional to pry into Americans’ lives that way.

A tea party member, Webster said the survey asks Americans about their emotional condition, what time they left for work and a host of other “intrusive” questions.

“It would seem this hardly fits the scope of what is required by the Constitution,” Webster said.

The U.S. Constitution requires a count of all Americans every 10 years. The Census Bureau established the ACS in 2005 to replace the longer forms some households received in the decennial census and to collect more detailed information more often.

Hodgson said the ACS does not violate the right to privacy.

“We live in a democracy and a democracy needs to have the facts in order to distribute government money,” she said.

About $400 billion in federal and state programs are distributed using the results of the ACS each year.

Steve Batt of the Connecticut State Data Center at the University of Connecticut said, “It’s understandable why people would think the survey is annoying.

“But they should realize that in order for their town to make a successful grant application to help fund senior housing, or for their school district to be eligible for increased funds to support school lunches, or the state to compete successfully for federal grants, the data is essential for objective, quantifiable evidence that isn’t subject to political influence,” he said.

The Census Bureau said the work of the ACS is vital and the cuts House Republicans imposed would make it difficult to conduct the next national census in 2020.

“This bill devastates the nation’s statistical information about the status of the economy and larger society,” the agency said in a statement. “Modern societies need current, social and economic statistics — the U.S. is losing them.”

Orlando Rodriguez, a demographer and senior fellow at Connecticut Voices for Children, said if anything, the ACS should receive more money to do its work.

“We use it every day,” he said. “We couldn’t know much about the recession without the ACS.”

Rodriguez said the survey’s data helped determine that young people have had higher rates of unemployment and older people have suffered more than others from long-term unemployment.
He said Voices for Children has used information from the survey recently for a study on housing.

“We need to know who rents, who owns … we couldn’t determine discrimination in housing without it.”

Rodriguez said conservatives in Congress who want to abolish the survey may be doing so for political purposes.

“If you don’t want to believe there are wide income disparities in this country and you can’t argue that, you get rid of the data,” he said.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-K.Y., another tea party favorite, introduced a bill in the Senate this month that would abolish the ACS.

But the program is not in its grave yet, and may never be because the Senate is likely to reject an end to the ACS.

The fate of the program is expected to be determined when Congress debates a final budget that would fund the Commerce Department and most of the federal agencies later this year, perhaps in a lame duck session after November’s elections.

Meanwhile a diverse group of Census supporters that includes the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, major universities, the nation’s advertisers and marketers, and state and local officials are lobbying the Senate to hold fast in its support of the ACS.

Hodgson of Quinnipiac plans to contact Connecticut’s senators, Joe Lieberman, an independent, and Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat, urging them to save the ACS.

“We have a long and wonderful tradition with our Census,” she said.

Sign up for CT Mirror's free daily news summary.

Free to Read. Not Free to Produce.

The Connecticut Mirror is a nonprofit newsroom. 90% of our revenue comes from people like you. If you value our reporting please consider making a donation. You'll enjoy reading CT Mirror even more knowing you helped make it happen.

YES, I'LL DONATE TODAY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ana Radelat

SEE WHAT READERS SAID

RELATED STORIES
Funding to fix CT’s roads and bridges is drying up, and officials don’t have a solution
by Keith M. Phaneuf and Kasturi Pananjady

Connecticut's transportation building program is on a financial diet after a five-year ramp-up after lawmakers rejected tolls.

Evidence not clear that Trump incited Capitol destruction
by Alan Calandro

Defending President Donald Trump is not popular and I have no interest in writing this other than adherence to truth. Recognizing the truth (if we can find it, which is not always possible of course) should make us be able to come together around that and move on with a common understanding.

Securing our nuclear legacy: An open letter to President-elect Joe Biden
by Erik Assadourian

Dear President-elect Biden: As you noted in a tweet shortly after protestors stormed the Capitol on Wednesday, “Today is a reminder, a painful one, that democracy is fragile.” Indeed it is. And so are nation-states.

COVID deaths and infections in CT nursing homes decline as more residents are vaccinated
by Dave Altimari

There were 85 deaths in nursing homes and 312 residents infected during the week ending Jan. 12.

Lamont appoints reformers, disability advocates to Police Officer Standards and Training Council
by Kelan Lyons

The appointments are a requirement of the police accountability bill passed over the summer in a special session.

Support Our Work

Show your love for great stories and outstanding journalism.

$
Select One
  • Monthly
  • Yearly
  • Once
Artpoint painter
CT ViewpointsCT Artpoints
Opinion Evidence not clear that Trump incited Capitol destruction
by Alan Calandro

Defending President Donald Trump is not popular and I have no interest in writing this other than adherence to truth. Recognizing the truth (if we can find it, which is not always possible of course) should make us be able to come together around that and move on with a common understanding.

Opinion Securing our nuclear legacy: An open letter to President-elect Joe Biden
by Erik Assadourian

Dear President-elect Biden: As you noted in a tweet shortly after protestors stormed the Capitol on Wednesday, “Today is a reminder, a painful one, that democracy is fragile.” Indeed it is. And so are nation-states.

Opinion Last votes of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and others
by Gary A. Franks

Finally, the election season is over. The historic elections we saw in this cycle were intriguing. The runoff elections for the U.S. Senate in Georgia put a cap on the campaign season. For many people this could be described as a COVID-19 election. I would argue that this was an election influenced by a pandemic but determined by the killing of unarmed Black people with no adequate justice for the Black community.

Opinion Not just environmental problem; Killingly plant is a great target
by Joel Gordes

In 1990, I was one of five legislators to introduce the first climate change legislation that became PA 90-219, An Act Considering Climate Change, the most popular bill of that session. Back then I considered climate change a national security issue… and I still do.

Artwork Grand guidance
by Anne:Gogh

In a world of systemic oppression aimed towards those of darker skintones – representation matters. We are more than our equity elusive environments, more than numbers in a prison and much more than victims of societal dispositions. This piece depicts a melanated young man draped in a cape ascending high above multiple forms of oppression. […]

Artwork Shea
by Anthony Valentine

Shea is a story about race and social inequalities that plague America. It is a narrative that prompts the question, “Do you know what it’s like to wake up in new skin?”

Artwork The Declaration of Human Rights
by Andres Chaparro

Through my artwork I strive to create an example of ideas that reflect my desire to raise social consciousness, and cultural awareness. Jazz music is the catalyst to all my work, and plays a major influence in each piece of work.”

Artwork ‘A thing of beauty. Destroy it forever’
by Richard DiCarlo | Derby

During times like these it’s often fun to revisit something familiar and approach things with a different slant. I have been taking some Pop culture and Art masterpieces and applying the vintage 1960’s and 70’s classic figures (Fisher Price, little people) to the make an amusing pieces. Here is my homage to Fisher -Price, Yellow […]

Twitter Feed
A Twitter List by CTMirror

Engage

  • Reflections Tickets & Sponsorships
  • Events
  • Donate
  • Newsletter Sign-Up
  • Submit to Viewpoints
  • Submit to ArtPoints
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Commenting Guidelines
  • Legal Notices
  • Contact Us

About

  • About CT Mirror
  • Announcements
  • Board
  • Staff
  • Sponsors and Funders
  • Donors
  • Friends of CT Mirror
  • History
  • Financial
  • Policies
  • Strategic Plan

Opportunity

  • Advertising and Sponsorship
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Use of Photography
  • Work for Us

Go Deeper

  • Steady Habits Podcast
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Five Things

The Connecticut News Project, Inc. 1049 Asylum Avenue, Hartford, CT 06105. Phone: 860-218-6380

© Copyright 2021, The Connecticut News Project. All Rights Reserved. Website by Web Publisher PRO