[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 117 (Thursday, August 2, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5994-S5995]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 57--EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF CONGRESS THAT 
 THE CENSUS SURVEYS AND THE INFORMATION DERIVED FROM THOSE SURVEYS ARE 
                    CRUCIAL TO THE NATIONAL WELFARE

  Mr. ROCKEFELLER submitted the following concurrent resolution; which 
was referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 
Affairs:

                            S. Con. Res. 57

       Whereas the American Community Survey (referred to in this 
     preamble as the ``ACS'') was launched in 2005 during the 
     Administration of President George W. Bush and has since been 
     funded by Congress as an innovation that the Bureau of the 
     Census has been able to use in place of the decennial census 
     long form;
       Whereas the ACS provides the United States, States, 
     counties, cities, towns, neighborhoods, and other areas with 
     annual data that was formerly available only once every 10 
     years;
       Whereas the Federal Government relies on the ACS--
       (1) to produce annual population estimates for the United 
     States, States, metropolitan areas, counties, cities, and 
     other areas;
       (2) to produce annual measures of total personal income and 
     per capita income for the United States, States, metropolitan 
     areas, and counties;
       (3) to define metropolitan areas;
       (4) to determine compliance with the Voting Rights Act of 
     1965 (42 U.S.C. 1973 et seq.); and
       (5) to fairly distribute more than $450,000,000,000 in 
     Federal domestic assistance to States and other areas, 
     including through the setting of the formulas for Federal 
     reimbursement to States for Medicaid expenditures;
       Whereas the ACS is the only source of rural and small-area 
     economic and demographic data of sufficient reliability to 
     allow entrepreneurs, business owners, and local government 
     planners, among others, to make informed decisions on where 
     to invest, build, create jobs, and maintain or improve 
     infrastructure;
       Whereas Congress requires the information collected through 
     the ACS in order to provide adequate oversight of a 
     substantial number of executive departments, agencies, and 
     programs;
       Whereas the citizens of the United States require the 
     information collected through the ACS for each State and 
     congressional district in order to hold their Members of 
     Congress accountable;
       Whereas, since the founding of the United States, Congress 
     has recognized the value and mandated the use of the 
     decennial census as a means to gather information that 
     informs public policy and measures the progress of the United 
     States;
       Whereas the congressional tradition of the decennial census 
     was initiated by the efforts of United States Representative 
     James Madison, the ``Father of the Constitution'', who argued 
     on the floor of the House of Representatives that Congress, 
     in considering the Act entitled ``An Act providing for the 
     enumeration of the Inhabitants of the United States'' 
     (commonly known as the ``Census Act of 1790''; 1 Stat. 101, 
     chapter 2), ``had now an opportunity of obtaining the most 
     useful information for those who should hereafter be called 
     upon to legislate for their country if this bill was extended 
     so as to embrace some other objects besides the bare 
     enumeration of the inhabitants; it would enable them to adapt 
     the public measures to the particular circumstances of the 
     community. In order to know the various interests of the 
     United States, it was necessary that the description of the 
     several classes into which the community was divided, should 
     be accurately known; on this knowledge the legislature might 
     proceed to make a proper provision for the agricultural, 
     commercial and manufacturing interests . . . in due 
     proportion'';
       Whereas Representative James Madison also said, ``This kind 
     of information all legislatures had wished for; but this kind 
     of information had never been obtained in any country''; that 
     he wished, therefore, ``to avail himself of the present 
     opportunity of accomplishing so valuable a purpose''; and 
     ``[i]f the plan was pursued in taking every future census, it 
     would give [Congress] an opportunity of marking the progress 
     of the society, and distinguishing the growth of every 
     interest.'';
       Whereas Vice President Thomas Jefferson, the ``Father of 
     the Declaration of Independence'', wrote Congress as 
     president of the American Philosophical Society that the 
     consideration by Congress of the Act entitled ``An Act 
     providing for the second Census or enumeration of the 
     Inhabitants of the United States'' (commonly known as the 
     ``Census Act of 1800''; 2 Stat. 11, chapter 12) offered ``an 
     occasion of great value, and not otherwise to be obtained, of 
     ascertaining sundry facts highly important to society . . . 
     [and] presenting a more detailed view of the inhabitants of 
     the United States, under several different aspects,'' 
     including age (so as to be able to measure life expectancy), 
     citizenship (so as to be able to determine the relative 
     contributions of births and immigration to population 
     growth), and the occupation of free males (so as to be able 
     ``to ascertain more completely the causes which influence 
     life and health, and furnish a curious and useful document of 
     the distribution of society in these States, and of the 
     conditions and vocations of our fellow-citizens . . .'');
       Whereas diverse presidents throughout the 19th and 20th 
     centuries, such as John Quincy Adams, Martin Van Buren, 
     William McKinley, Herbert Hoover, and Franklin Roosevelt, 
     asked for and received from Congress permission to expand the 
     scope of census questions unrelated to enumeration;
       Whereas the Economic Census is required by law to be 
     conducted every 5 years, provides the most authoritative and 
     comprehensive data about United States businesses, and 
     provides the foundation for key economic indicators, such as 
     the gross domestic product;
       Whereas, in response to the recommendations of the 
     Intensive Review Committee (also known as the ``Watkins 
     Commission''), Congress enacted the recommendations into law 
     in 1954, thereby providing for quinquennial censuses of 
     manufacturing, mineral industries, and other businesses;
       Whereas the finding of the Watkins Commission that 
     ``[w]ithout these census records, it would not be possible to 
     construct or interpret this system of economic indicators. 
     Business executives, farmers, labor leaders, professional 
     men, scholars, scientists, government officials, and 
     administrators in all phases of our society are dependent on 
     census records or on economic indicators based on census 
     records.'' is as true today as it was in 1954;
       Whereas the Economic Census--
       (1) provides the foundation for key annual, quarterly, and 
     monthly Federal economic indicators, including the gross 
     domestic product, industrial production, labor productivity, 
     manufacturing and services industry activity, producer price 
     indices, research and development expenditures, commodity 
     flows, and employer-sponsored health insurance coverage;
       (2) provides the basis for Federal macroeconomic and budget 
     projections; and
       (3) informs Federal trade, competitiveness, and 
     entrepreneurship policies;
       Whereas single firms rely on the Economic Census to compare 
     their operations to industry averages, identify markets, and 
     inform decisions on business location, capital investment, 
     product research and development, and marketing strategies;
       Whereas the information collected through the Economic 
     Census affords the private and public sectors the ability to 
     make good decisions and use resources in a way such that the 
     entire country is more efficient and better able to compete 
     in the world economy, thereby allowing the United States to 
     maintain a high standard of living;
       Whereas what is today called the Economic Census began as 
     the ``census of manufactures'' in 1810;
       Whereas the census of manufactures (as well as the census 
     of agriculture) became a regular feature of census taking in 
     1840 and has remained such ever since;
       Whereas household and business responses to census surveys 
     allow national, State, and local officials to make informed 
     decisions, just as James Madison envisioned, providing timely 
     and accurate statistics even for small localities;
       Whereas, historically, Congress has followed the precedent 
     set by all previous Congresses in supporting and directing 
     the collection of a range of information in the ACS and the 
     Economic Census to guide its own deliberations and 
     consideration of policies;

[[Page S5995]]

       Whereas Federal courts have consistently upheld the 
     constitutionality of including questions unrelated to 
     enumeration in the decennial census and requiring answers to 
     such questions; and
       Whereas Congress has mandated and the Department of 
     Commerce has successfully implemented strict protection of 
     the confidentiality of responses: Now, therefore be it
       Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 
     concurring), That Congress--
       (1) encourages the people of the United States to fulfill 
     their civic duty and follow the law by responding to all 
     census surveys conducted by the Bureau of the Census; and
       (2) strongly encourages the Bureau of the Census--
       (A) to provide United States households and businesses with 
     information regarding the community, economic, and fiscal 
     benefits to be gained from participation in the American 
     Community Survey and the Economic Census;
       (B) to use the most current methodologies and technologies 
     to reduce any burden of responding to the American Community 
     Survey and the Economic Census; and
       (C) to continue, as the Bureau of the Census has done 
     throughout its history, to innovate its methods, processes, 
     and products, and thus maintain the world-class standards 
     that have made the Bureau of the Census an international 
     leader among statistical agencies.

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