House Proposes to Eliminate Census Survey Used to Determine Federal Grant Allocations

On May 10, 2012, the House passed its fiscal year (FY) 2013 Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) appropriations bill (H.R. 5326). During floor consideration, the House approved an amendment that would eliminate the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS), which supplements the decennial census and is used to generate data to determine the annual allocation of more than $400 billion in federal funding to state and local governments. The Senate’s version of the CJS spending bill, which has been approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee, does not include a similar provision.