Trump Administration Indicates Support of 2020 Census

Announcement, Blog
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The Full House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing on October 12 provided some reasons for optimism regarding the Trump Administration’s support of the Census Bureau. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross testified before the committee and voiced support for appropriate funding of the 2020 Census. Further, the Administration plans to hire a comparable number of enumerators to the 2010 Census, which will be much more efficient due to the use of technology.  If you’d like to learn more about planning for the 2020 Census, consider attending the 2020 Census Quarterly Program Management Review on October 27 at 12:30 pm.

TAKEAWAYS:
  • The Census Bureau must focus on modernizing data collection and delivering necessary IT infrastructure in the most cost-effective manner.
  • The Census Bureau must ensure delivery of critical IT systems for 2018 end-to-end testing. Delays for delivery of critical IT systems pose significant risk for the security and the success of the census.
  • Secretary Ross provided a new life-cycle cost estimate of $15.6 billion dollars, an increase of $3.3 billion from the 2015 cost estimate.
  • Increasing costs are a concern. The Committee will monitor the Census Bureau’s management of the 2020 Census.