[Analytical Perspectives]
[Crosscutting Programs]
[4. Strengthening Federal Statistics]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office, www.gpo.gov]



[[Page 37]]

 
                  4.  STRENGTHENING FEDERAL STATISTICS

  Federal statistical programs produce key information to inform public 
and private decision makers about a range of topics of interest, 
including the economy, the population, agriculture, crime, education, 
energy, the environment, health, science, and transportation. The 
ability of governments, businesses, and citizens to make appropriate 
decisions about budgets, employment, investments, taxes, and a host of 
other important matters depends critically on the ready availability of 
relevant, accurate, and timely Federal statistics.
  The Federal statistical community remains on alert for opportunities 
to strengthen these measures of our Nation's performance. For example, 
during 2006, Federal statistical agencies improved their measures of the 
knowledge economy by releasing a preliminary Research and Development 
Satellite Account that estimates the effect of investment in research 
and development on U.S. economic growth (BEA and NSF); published, for 
the first time, estimates of households experiencing identity theft 
victimization and its consequences (BJS); developed procedures to ease 
the reporting burden of the 2007 Economic Census by enhanced electronic 
reporting, and to collect product data from all 350 service industries, 
up from 80 in the last census (Census Bureau); published data on the 
labor force status of persons who evacuated their homes due to Hurricane 
Katrina (BLS); developed and tested quality improvements to the 
Commodity Flow Survey, the most comprehensive source of nationwide data 
on the transportation of goods (BTS and Census Bureau); introduced new 
interactive web-based tools to facilitate access to, and use of, health 
statistics information (NCHS); expanded internet data collection systems 
to securely process energy survey data more quickly and obtain better 
quality data (EIA); provided Internet access to forecasts of current 
year farm income (ERS); offered podcasts of farm broadcast news stories 
(NASS); and continued the modernization and reengineering of the 
decennial census to improve its accuracy and usefulness while containing 
costs (Census Bureau).
  For Federal statistical programs to effectively benefit their wide 
range of users, the underlying data systems must be viewed as credible. 
In order to foster this credibility, Federal statistical programs seek 
to adhere to high quality standards and to maintain integrity and 
efficiency in the production of data. As the collectors and providers of 
these basic statistics, the responsible agencies act as data stewards--
balancing public and private decision makers' needs for information with 
legal and ethical obligations to minimize reporting burden, respect 
respondents' privacy, and protect the confidentiality of the data 
provided to the Government. This chapter discusses the development of 
standards that principal statistical programs use to assess their 
performance and presents highlights of their 2008 budget proposals.

                          Performance Standards

  Statistical programs maintain the quality of their data or information 
products as well as their credibility by setting high performance 
standards for their activities. The statistical agencies and statistical 
units represented on the Interagency Council on Statistical Policy 
(ICSP) have collaborated on developing an initial set of common 
performance standards for use under the Government Performance and 
Results Act and in completing the Administration's Program Assessment 
Rating Tool (PART). Federal statistical agencies have agreed that there 
are six conceptual dimensions within two general areas of focus that are 
key to measuring and monitoring statistical programs. The first area of 
focus is Product Quality, encompassing the traditional dimensions of 
relevance, accuracy, and timeliness. The second area of focus is Program 
Performance, encompassing the dimensions of cost, dissemination, and 
mission achievement.
  Statistical agencies historically have focused on measuring 
performance in the area of product quality, especially dimensions of 
accuracy and timeliness that are most amenable to quantitative 
measurement. Relevance, also an accepted measure of quality, can be 
either a qualitative description of the usefulness of products or a 
quantitative measure such as a customer satisfaction score. Relevance is 
more difficult to measure, and the indicators that do exist are more 
varied.
  Program performance standards form the basis for evaluating 
effectiveness. They address questions such as: Are taxpayer dollars 
spent most effectively? Are products made available to those who need 
them? Are agencies meeting their mission requirements or making it 
possible for other agencies to meet their missions? The indicators 
available to measure program performance for statistical activities 
currently are less well developed. 


Description of Dimensions

 
 
 
 
Product Quality
 
Relevance: Qualitative or quantitative descriptions of the degree to which products and
 services are useful to users and responsive to users' needs.
 
Accuracy: Qualitative or quantitative measure of important features of correctness,
 validity, and reliability of data and information products measured as degree of closeness
 to target values.
 
Timeliness: Qualitative or quantitative measure of the timing of information releases.
 
Program Performance
 
Cost: Quantitative measure of the dollar amount used to produce data products and services.
 
Dissemination: Qualitative or quantitative information on the availability, accessibility,
 and distribution of products and services.
 
Mission Achievement: Qualitative or quantitative information about the effect of, or
 satisfaction with, statistical programs.
 

Key to Statistical Agencies

 
 
 
 
BEA = Bureau of Economic Analysis, Department of Commerce
BJS = Bureau of Justice Statistics, Department of Justice
BLS = Bureau of Labor Statistics, Department of Labor
BTS = Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Department of Transportation
Census = Census Bureau, Department of Commerce
EIA = Energy Information Administration, Department of Energy
ERS = Economic Research Service, Department of Agriculture
NASS = National Agricultural Statistics Service, Department of Agriculture
NCES = National Center for Education Statistics, Department of Education
NCHS = National Center for Health Statistics, Department of Health and Human Services
ORES = Office of Research, Evaluation, and Statistics, Social Security Administration
SOI = Statistics of Income, Internal Revenue Service, Department of the Treasury
SRS = Science Resources Statistics Division, National Science Foundation
 
 

  Product quality and program performance standards are designed to 
serve as indicators when answering specific questions in the 
Administration's PART process. Chart 4-1 presents each principal Federal 
statistical agency's assessment of the status of its current and planned 
use of indicators on the six dimensions. With the exception of cost 
indicators, where three agencies (ERS, NCES, and NCHS) are still 
planning their

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measures, the ICSP agencies have now developed performance measures for 
all six dimensions. Use of the indicators may be for internal 
management, strategic planning, or annual performance reporting. The 
dimensions shown in the chart reflect an overall set of indicators for 
statistical activities, but the specific measures vary among the 
individual programs depending on their unique characteristics and 
requirements. Annual performance reports and PARTs provide these 
specific measures, as well as additional information about performance 
goals and targets and whether a program is meeting, or making measurable 
progress toward meeting, its performance goals. The examples below 
illustrate different ways agencies track their performance on each 
dimension.

  Product Quality: Statistical agencies agree that product quality 
encompasses many attributes, including (but not limited to) relevance, 
accuracy, and timeliness. The basic measures in this group relate to the 
quality of specific products, thereby providing actionable information 
to managers. These are ``outcome-oriented'' measures and are key to the 
usability of information products. Statistical agencies or units 
establish targets and monitor how well targets are met. In some sense,

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relevance relates to ``doing the right things,'' while accuracy and 
timeliness relate to ``doing things right.''

             Relevance: Qualitative or quantitative descriptions of the 
          degree to which products and services are useful and 
          responsive to users' needs. Relevance of data products and 
          analytic reports may be monitored through a professional 
          review process and ongoing contacts with data users. Product 
          relevance may be indicated by customer satisfaction with 
          product content, information from customers about product use, 
          demonstration of product improvements, comparability with 
          other data series, agency responses to customer suggestions 
          for improvement, new or customized products or services, 
          frequency of use, or responses to data requests from users 
          (including policy makers). Through a variety of professional 
          review activities, agencies maintain the relevance and 
          validity of their products, and encourage data users and other 
          stakeholders to contribute to the agencies' data collection 
          and dissemination programs. Striving for relevance requires 
          monitoring to ensure that information systems anticipate 
          change and evolve to appropriately measure our dynamic society 
          and economy.

             Accuracy: Qualitative or quantitative measures of important 
          features of correctness, validity, and reliability of data and 
          information products measured as degree of closeness to target 
          values. For statistical data, accuracy may be defined as the 
          degree of closeness to the target value and measured as 
          sampling error and various aspects of nonsampling error (e.g., 
          response rates, size of revisions, coverage, edit 
          performance). For analysis products, accuracy may be the 
          quality of the reasoning, reasonableness of assumptions, and 
          clarity of the exposition, typically measured and monitored 
          through review processes. In addition, accuracy is assessed 
          and improved by internal reviews, comparisons of data among 
          different surveys, linkages of survey data to administrative 
          records, redesigns of surveys, or expansions of sample sizes.

             Timeliness: Qualitative or quantitative measure of timing 
          of information releases. Timeliness may be measured as time 
          from the close of the reference period to the release of 
          information, or customer satisfaction with timeliness. 
          Timeliness may also be measured as how well agencies meet 
          scheduled and publicized release dates, expressed as a percent 
          of release dates met.

  Program Performance: Statistical agencies agree that program 
performance encompasses balancing the dimensions of cost, dissemination, 
and mission accomplishment for the agency as a whole; operating 
efficiently and effectively; ensuring that customers receive the 
information they need; and serving the information needs of the Nation. 
Costs of products or programs may be used to develop efficiency 
measures. Dissemination involves making sure customers receive the 
information they need via the most appropriate mechanisms. Mission 
achievement means that the information program makes a difference. 
Hence, three key dimensions are being used to indicate program 
performance: cost (input), dissemination (output), and mission 
achievement (outcome).

             Cost: Quantitative measure of the dollar amount to produce 
          data products or services. The development and use of 
          financial performance measures within the Federal Government 
          is an established goal; the intent of such measures is to 
          determine the ``true costs'' of various programs or 
          alternative modes of operation at the Federal level. Examples 
          of cost data include full costs of products or programs, 
          return on investment, dollar value of efficiencies, and ratios 
          of cost to products distributed.

             Dissemination: Qualitative or quantitative information on 
          the availability, accessibility, and distribution of products 
          and services. Most agencies have goals to improve product 
          accessibility, particularly through the Internet. Typical 
          measures include: on-demand requests fulfilled, product 
          downloads, degree of accessibility, customer satisfaction with 
          ease of use, number of participants at user conferences, 
          citations of agency data in the media, number of Internet user 
          sessions, number of formats in which data are available, 
          amount of technical support provided to data users, exhibits 
          to inform the public about information products, issuance of 
          newsletters describing products, usability testing of web 
          sites, and assessing compliance with Section 508 of the 
          Rehabilitation Act, which requires Federal agencies to make 
          their electronic and information technology accessible to 
          people with disabilities.

             Mission Achievement: Qualitative or quantitative 
          information about the effect of, or satisfaction with, 
          statistical programs. For Government statistical programs, 
          this dimension responds to the question--have we achieved our 
          objectives and met the expectations of our stakeholders? Under 
          this dimension, statistical programs document their 
          contributions to the goals and missions of parent departments 
          and other agencies, the Administration, the Congress, and 
          information users in the private sector and the general 
          public. For statistical programs, this broad dimension 
          involves meeting recognized societal information needs; it 
          also addresses the linkage between statistical outputs and 
          programmatic outcomes.

            However, identifying this linkage is far from 
          straightforward. It is frequently difficult to trace the 
          effects of information products on the public good. Such 
          products often are necessary intermediate inputs in the 
          creation of high visibility information whose societal benefit 
          is clearly recognized. For example, the economic statistics 
          pro

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          duced by a variety of agencies are directly used by the Bureau 
          of Economic Analysis in the calculation of the Gross Domestic 
          Product (GDP), which analysts universally use to assess 
          changes in the level of domestic economic activity. Similarly, 
          statistics from specific surveys are directly used by the 
          Bureau of Labor Statistics in the calculation of the Consumer 
          Price Index (CPI), which is widely used in diverse 
          applications, such as indexing pensions for retirees. As a 
          result, a number of statistical agencies can claim credit for 
          contributing to the GDP and/or the CPI and to the many uses of 
          these information products. In addition, statistics produced 
          by Federal agencies are used to track the performance of 
          programs managed by their parent or other organizations 
          related to topics such as crime, education, energy, the 
          environment, health, science, and transportation.

            Moreover, beyond the direct and focused uses of statistical 
          products, the statistical agencies and their programs serve a 
          diverse and dispersed set of data users working on a broad 
          range of applications. Users include government policy makers 
          at the Federal, State, and local levels, business leaders, 
          households, academic researchers, analysts at public policy 
          institutes and trade groups, marketers and planners in the 
          private sector, and many others. Information produced by 
          statistical agencies often is combined with other information 
          for use in the decision-making process. Thus, the relationship 
          between program outputs and their beneficial uses and outcomes 
          is often complex and difficult to track. Consequently, 
          agencies use both qualitative and quantitative indicators to 
          make this linkage as explicit as feasible.

            In the absence of preferred quantitative indicators, 
          qualitative narratives can indicate how statistical agency 
          products contribute to and evaluate progress toward important 
          goals established for government or private programs. In 
          particular, narratives can highlight how statistical agencies 
          measure the Nation's social and economic structure, and how 
          the availability of the information influences changes in 
          policies and programs. These narratives contribute to 
          demonstrating mission accomplishment, particularly in response 
          to questions in Section I of the PART, ``program purpose and 
          design.'' Narratives may describe statistical information's 
          effects on measuring agency policy or change of policy, 
          supporting research focused on policy issues, informing debate 
          on policy issues, or providing in-house consulting support.

            In addition to narratives, quantitative measures may be used 
          to reflect mission achievement. For example, customer 
          satisfaction with the statistical agency or unit indicates if 
          the agency or unit has met the expectations of its 
          stakeholders.

  Of the 14 principal Federal statistical agencies or units that are 
members of the ICSP, eleven agencies have programs that have been 
assessed using the PART process. All but one of these agencies' programs 
have received PART summary ratings of Effective or Moderately Effective, 
as shown in Chart 4-2. While recognizing the strength of the Energy 
Information Administration's purpose and management, in 2004 EIA 
received an initial rating of ``Results Not Demonstrated'' for two key 
reasons, both of which have since been rectified. At the time of the 
evaluation, EIA had recently adopted new performance measures and lacked 
the necessary historical baselines and future targets; these now exist 
for all measures. EIA was also critiqued for having no recurring 
independent evaluation of its entire program. EIA recruited an energy 
expert from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to select and lead 
a team to conduct such an evaluation, and the team completed its report 
in 2006. EIA management will evaluate the team's recommendations as part 
of its strategic planning process in 2007. As additional ICSP agencies 
have an opportunity to undergo the PART process, the agencies plan to 
continue to use the results of the collaborative performance standards 
development effort to help maintain and extend their generally favorable 
assessments.

Chart 4-2.  MOST RECENT PART SUMMARY RATINGS FOR STATISTICAL PROGRAMS
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                Summary Rating
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bureau of Economic Analysis          Effective
 
Bureau of Justice Statistics
  Criminal Justice Statistics        Effective
   Program
  National Criminal History          Moderately Effective
   Improvement Program
 
Bureau of Labor Statistics           Effective
 
Bureau of Transportation Statistics  Moderately Effective
 
Census Bureau
  Current Demographic Statistics     Effective
  Decennial Census                   Moderately Effective
  Intercensal Demographic Estimates  Moderately Effective
  Survey Sample Redesign             Effective
  Economic Census                    Effective
  Current Economic Statistics        Moderately Effective
    /Census of Governments
 
Economic Research Service            Effective
 
Energy Information Administration    Results Not Demonstrated
 
National Agricultural Statistics     Moderately Effective
 Service
 
National Center for Education
 Statistics
  Statistics                         Effective
  Assessment                         Effective
 
National Center for Health           Moderately Effective
 Statistics
 
Science Resources Statistics
 Division, NSF
  NSF's Infrastructure and           Effective
   Instrumentation component
------------------------------------------------------------------------


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               Highlights of 2008 Program Budget Proposals

  The programs that provide essential statistical information for use by 
governments, businesses, researchers, and the public are carried out by 
more than 70 agencies spread across every department and several 
independent agencies. Approximately 40 percent of the funding for these 
programs provides resources for 13 agencies or units that have 
statistical activities as their principal mission. (Please see Table 4-
1.) The remaining funding supports work in 60-plus agencies or units 
that carry out statistical activities in conjunction with other missions 
such as providing services or enforcing regulations. More comprehensive 
budget and program information about the Federal statistical system will 
be available in OMB's annual report, Statistical Programs of the United 
States Government, Fiscal Year 2008, when it is published later this 
year. The following highlights elaborate on the Administration's 
proposals to strengthen the programs of the principal Federal 
statistical agencies.

  Bureau of Economic Analysis: Funding is requested to: (1) extend the 
prototype Research & Development satellite account, funded by the 
National Science Foundation in 2006 and 2007, with annual updates and 
extensions to BEA's Gross Domestic Product and other estimates between 
2008 and 2012, and full incorporation into the economic accounts in 
2013; (2) complete BEA's five-year program to improve the accuracy and 
timeliness of the Nation's economic accounts by addressing data gaps and 
measurement problems, expanding integration with other accounts, and 
improving consistency with international standards; and (3) continue to 
improve the accuracy of statistics on services, profits, compensation, 
international trade in services, and off-shoring.
  Bureau of Justice Statistics: Funding is requested to provide for 
BJS's core statistical programs and for two initiatives: (1) a redesign 
of the National Crime Victimization Survey based on anticipated 
recommendations from the Committee on National Statistics of the 
National Research Council; and (2) development of a national recidivism 
statistical series, which will provide baseline data, as well as 
representative data every 3 years, on the rates of rearrest, 
reconviction, and reincarceration among released State and Federal 
prisoners to provide a quantitative basis for evaluating the 
effectiveness of reentry programs, post-custody surveillance, and State 
policies related to parole revocation.
  Bureau of Labor Statistics: Funding is requested to support the 
production, dissemination, and improvement of BLS economic measures, 
including: (1) the introduction of continuous updating to the housing 
and geographic area samples in the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which 
will improve the accuracy and timeliness of the CPI; (2) the 
continuation of efforts to modernize the computing systems for monthly 
processing of the Producer Price Index (PPI) and U.S. Import and Export 
Price Indexes (IPP); and (3) the publication, for the first time, of 
local area Employment Cost Index (ECI) and Employer Costs for Employee 
Compensation (ECEC) series as deemed feasible as a result of testing 
completed in 2007.
  Bureau of Transportation Statistics: Funding is requested to: (1) 
conduct the Commodity Flow Survey, a major national benchmark survey of 
shippers; (2) release monthly statistics on the commodities and mode of 
transportation used in trading with our largest partners; (3) produce a 
core set of economic data and indicators, including the Government 
Transportation Financial Statistics Report, multi-factor productivity 
measures, the State Transit Expenditure Survey, and the Air Travel Price 
Index; (4) produce and release the National Transportation Atlas Data 
Base, a compendium of national geospatial transportation data; and (5) 
conduct the biennial Census of Ferry Operations in the U.S.
  Census Bureau: Funding is requested for the Census Bureau's ongoing 
economic and demographic programs and for a re-engineered 2010 Census. 
For the Census Bureau's economic and demographic programs, funding is 
requested to: (1) collect and process economic census returns for the 
2007 Economic Census; (2) create the universe frame and develop 
organizational information for the 2007 Census of Governments, as well 
as collect and process data for the employment phase, and collect and 
process data from States and other sources for the finance phase; (3) 
undertake an initiative to close the current gap in service sector 
coverage; and (4) continue reengineering the Survey of Income and 
Program Participation. For the 2010 Census program, funding is requested 
to continue to: (1) conduct planning, testing, and development 
activities to support a re-engineered 2010 Census, including the 2008 
Census Dress Rehearsal and early operations for the 2010 Census; (2) 
improve the accuracy of map feature locations for the remaining 367 
counties of the total of 3,232 counties; and (3) continue to conduct the 
American Community Survey to provide socio-economic data on an ongoing 
basis rather than only once-a-decade.
  Economic Research Service: Funding is requested to: (1) strengthen and 
enhance the ERS market analysis and outlook program to provide timely 
analysis of global agricultural product markets; and (2) strengthen 
ERS's research and modeling capacity in the area of bio-energy with 
particular emphasis given to the changing economics of livestock feeding 
and the role of ethanol byproducts.
  Energy Information Administration: Funding is requested to continue 
ongoing operations to: (1) maintain critical energy data coverage, 
analysis, and forecasting; (2) improve data reliability and statistical 
accuracy through redesigning key petroleum and natural

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gas surveys; (3) initiate monthly ethanol and biofuels data collections 
on a national and regional basis as mandated in Section 1508 of the 
Energy Policy Act of 2005; (4) strengthen global oil and gas data and 
modeling capabilities; and (5) improve the ability to assess and 
forecast supply, demand, and technology trends affecting U.S. and world 
energy markets.
  National Agricultural Statistics Service: Funding is requested to 
support printing, postage and handling of questionnaire packages, 
logging returned questionnaires, capturing reported data, and conducting 
telephone and personal follow-up interviews with nonrespondents for the 
quinquennial Census of Agriculture via questionnaires that are scheduled 
to be mailed to the Nation's agricultural producers in December 2007.
  National Center for Education Statistics: Funding is requested to: (1) 
conduct the National Assessment of Educational Progress, including 12th 
grade reading and mathematics assessments in 2009; (2) plan for a new 
high school longitudinal study that will begin with a cohort of 9th 
graders in 2009 and follow them through postsecondary education and into 
the workforce; (3) analyze data from international studies such as the 
2007 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study and plan for 
new international assessments; (4) undertake a pilot study on the 
development of postsecondary unit records, an essential restructuring of 
several components of the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data 
System; (5) carry out the 2007-08 Schools and Staffing Survey to obtain 
information on public and private schools, principals, and teachers; and 
(6) conduct the Beginning Postsecondary Student Longitudinal Survey, 
which provides information on the progress of postsecondary students, as 
well as the 2008 National Postsecondary Student Aid Survey.
  National Center for Health Statistics: Funding is requested to: (1) 
continue data collection, analysis, and dissemination for key national 
health data systems, including the National Vital Statistics System, 
National Health Interview Survey, National Health and Nutrition 
Examination Survey, and National Health Care Survey; (2) continue gains 
in timeliness by implementing systems improvements in data collection 
and processing; (3) continue efforts to develop survey data that address 
the health care delivery system; and (4) work collaboratively with 
States and other agencies on upgrading the technology for collecting 
data from State birth and death certificates.
  Office of Research, Evaluation, and Statistics, SSA: Funding is 
requested to: (1) continue strategic planning to modernize ORES's 
processes for developing and disseminating data from the Social Security 
Administration's major administrative data files for statistical 
purposes; (2) support outside surveys and linkage of SSA administrative 
data to surveys; (3) create a new public use file of administrative data 
on earnings histories and benefits for a sample of Social Security 
numbers; and 4) evaluate the analytic validity of a synthetic data file 
based on data from the 1990-1993 and 1996 Survey of Income and Program 
Participation (SIPP) panels matched to SSA and IRS administrative data.
  Science Resources Statistics Division, NSF: Funding is requested to: 
(1) implement ongoing programs on the science and engineering 
enterprise; (2) continue to implement redesign and improvement 
activities for a broad range of surveys, particularly the suite of 
research and development (R&D) surveys; (3) support the NSF/SBE 
initiative on the Science of Science and Innovation Policy to develop 
the data, tools, and knowledge needed for a new science of science 
policy by enhancing the comparability, scope and availability of 
international data; and (4) develop data on innovation and R&D conducted 
or funded by nonprofit organizations.
  Statistics of Income Division, IRS: Funding is requested to: (1) 
maintain and modernize tax data collection systems, including developing 
interfaces with modern electronic tax return filing systems; (2) 
implement a databank repository for SOI and IRS population file data to 
more efficiently build longitudinal databases and enable sub-national 
estimates; (3) examine means to more effectively mask individual records 
to minimize the possibility of identification in the Individual Public 
Use Sample files; and (4) modernize and expedite dissemination of data 
and publications, including enhancement of products and features on the 
www.irs.gov/taxstats website.

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                  Table 4-1.  2006-2008 BUDGET AUTHORITY FOR PRINCIPAL STATISTICAL AGENCIES\1\
                                            (In millions of dollars)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                                Estimate
                                                                               2006    -------------------------
                                                                              Actual        2007         2008
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bureau of Economic Analysis .............................................          75           75           81
 
Bureau of Justice Statistics \2\.........................................          50           50           62
 
Bureau of Labor Statistics...............................................         537          537          573
 
Bureau of Transportation Statistics......................................          27           27           27
 
Census Bureau \3\........................................................         822          817         1250
  Salaries and Expenses \3\..............................................         216          210          223
  Periodic Censuses and Programs.........................................         606          607         1027
 
Economic Research Service \4\............................................          75           75           83
 
Energy Information Administration........................................          85           85          105
 
National Agricultural Statistics Service \5\.............................         139          140          168
 
National Center for Education Statistics.................................         183          183          236
  Statistics.............................................................          90           90          119
  Assessment.............................................................          88           88          111
  National Assessment Governing Board....................................           5            5            6
 
National Center for Health Statistics \6\................................         109          109          110
 
Office of Research, Evaluation, and Statistics, SSA......................          16           18           15
 
Science Resources Statistics Division, NSF...............................          33           33           37
 
Statistics of Income Division, IRS.......................................          38           41           41
 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Reflects any recissions.
 
\2\ Includes funds for management and administrative costs of $11, $11, and $17 million in 2006, 2007, 2008,
  respectively that were previously displayed separately.
 
\3\ Includes Mandatory Appropriations of $20 million for each year for the Survey of Program Dynamics and
  collection of data related to the allocation to States of State Children's Health Insurance Program funds.
 
\4\ 2007 funding assumes the reallocation of $350,000 provided in 2006 for a comprehensive report on the
  economic development and current status of the sheep industry in the United States. Funding for that purpose
  will not be needed in 2007.
 
\5\ Includes funds for the periodic Census of Agriculture of $29, $29, and $54 million in 2006, 2007, and 2008,
  respectively. The FY 2008 Budget includes an increase of $24.7 million due to cyclical activities.
 
\6\ All funds from the Public Health Service Evaluation Fund. Administrative costs for NCHS that previously were
  displayed as part of the NCHS budget line are now reflected in two consolidated CDC-wide budget lines for
  management and administrative costs.