Democrats Try to Save Poverty Survey
    The Associated Press

    Thursday 08 June 2006

    Washington - Democratic lawmakers say Congress will be working in the dark on big issues such as Social Security and Medicaid if the Census Bureau eliminates a unique survey of poverty and income.

    The Bush administration has proposed cutting the Survey of Income and Program Participation. It is the government's only survey that repeatedly questions thousands of people over time about how income changes affect their poverty status, health coverage and use of government services.

    Democrats are trying to save the program, which will cost $32 million this year, while some Republicans are looking to cut the agency's spending.

    A House committee is scheduled to take up the Census Bureau's 2007 budget next week. A dozen Democrats in Congress wrote Bush's budget director on Wednesday questioning the elimination of the survey.

    Supporters say the 22-year-old survey has been crucial for measuring the effects of welfare changes, unemployment insurance, food stamps and other services. They argue it could be an important tool to evaluate how older people will be affected by the new Medicare drug plan.

    Every four months, the same people are asked the same survey questions. The sample sizes have ranged from 14,000 to 36,700 households.

    "This data is essential to the government in managing Social Security, disability payments, and assistance to needy families," said Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y. "This action by the administration gives the term 'heartless' a bad name."

    Agency officials said the survey is cumbersome, requiring respondents to sit through interviews that can last three hours. As a result, many people drop out over time, requiring the bureau to start a new group every few years.

    The agency eventually plans to replace the survey with one that uses a variety of government records to track income and poverty.

    Howard Hogan, the Census Bureau's associate director for demographic programs, said the agency hopes to have a replacement survey operating by 2009. Hogan said it would have been better to continue the old survey while a new one was developed. But, he said, the bureau faced budget constraints.

    "We will be able to meet the principle users' needs in a way that is more flexible and costs less money," Hogan said. "It's not a smoke screen or anything else to try to end collecting this kind of data."

    The debate is taking place while others in Congress are promising to scrutinize the Census Bureau's budget.

    Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., wrote an article this week for Human Events Online, a conservative Web site, criticizing the projected $11.3 billion cost of the 2010 census.

    "I think there's an attitude that they are going to get the money no matter what, and I can tell you, they are not going to get the money," Coburn said in an interview. "We're going to follow them like a dog, the next four years. They are going to be sick of me."

    Census officials declined to respond.