Census: Planning Ahead for 2020
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S. Hrg. 112–676 CENSUS: PLANNING AHEAD FOR 2020 HEARING BEFORE THE FEDERAL FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT, GOVERNMENT INFORMATION, FEDERAL SERVICES, AND INTERNATIONAL SECURITY SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED TWELFTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION JULY 18, 2012 Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.fdsys.gov Printed for the use of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs ( U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 76–063 PDF WASHINGTON : 2013 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS JOSEPH I. LIEBERMAN, Connecticut, Chairman CARL LEVIN, Michigan SUSAN M. COLLINS, Maine DANIEL K. AKAKA, Hawaii TOM COBURN, Oklahoma THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware SCOTT P. BROWN, Massachusetts MARK L. PRYOR, Arkansas JOHN MCCAIN, Arizona MARY L. LANDRIEU, Louisiana RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin CLAIRE MCCASKILL, Missouri ROB PORTMAN, Ohio JON TESTER, Montana RAND PAUL, Kentucky MARK BEGICH, Alaska JERRY MORAN, Kansas MICHAEL L. ALEXANDER, Staff Director NICHOLAS A. ROSSI, Minority Staff Director TRINA DRIESSNACK TYRER, Chief Clerk JOYCE WARD, Publications Clerk and GPO Detailee SUBCOMMITTEE ON FEDERAL FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT, GOVERNMENT INFORMATION, FEDERAL SERVICES, AND INTERNATIONAL SECURITY THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware, Chairman CARL LEVIN, Michigan SCOTT P. BROWN, Massachusetts DANIEL K. AKAKA, Hawaii TOM COBURN, Oklahoma MARK L. PRYOR, Arkansas JOHN MCCAIN, Arizona CLAIRE MCCASKILL, Missouri RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin MARK BEGICH, Alaska ROB PORTMAN, Ohio JOHN KILVINGTON, Staff Director WILLIAM WRIGHT, Minority Staff Director DEIRDRE G. ARMSTRONG, Chief Clerk (II) C O N T E N T S Opening statements: Page Senator Carper ................................................................................................. 1 Senator Brown .................................................................................................. 3 Senator Coburn ................................................................................................. 4 Prepared statements: Senator Carper ................................................................................................. 47 Senator Brown .................................................................................................. 49 WITNESSES WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 2012 Hon. Robert M. Groves, Director, U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Commerce ......................................................................................................... 5 Hon. Todd J. Zinser, Inspector General, U.S. Department of Commerce ........... 9 Robert Goldenkoff, Director, Strategic Issues, U.S. Government Accountability Office ..................................................................................................................... 10 Jason Providakes, Ph.D., Senior Vice President and General Manager, The MITRE Corporation ............................................................................................. 30 Jack Baker, Ph.D., Senior Research Scientist, Geospatial and Population Studies, The National Academy of Sciences ...................................................... 32 Andrew Reamer, Ph.D., Research Professor, George Washington Institute of Public Policy, George Washington University ............................................... 34 ALPHABETICAL LIST OF WITNESSES Baker, Jack, Ph.D. : Testimony .......................................................................................................... 32 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 105 Goldenkoff, Robert: Testimony .......................................................................................................... 10 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 82 Groves, Hon. Robert M.: Testimony .......................................................................................................... 5 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 51 Providakes, Jason, Ph.D.: Testimony .......................................................................................................... 30 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 99 Reamer, Andrew, Ph.D.: Testimony .......................................................................................................... 34 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 110 Zinser, Hon. Todd J.: Testimony .......................................................................................................... 9 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 67 APPENDIX Questions and responses for the Record from: Mr. Groves ......................................................................................................... 118 Mr. Zinser .......................................................................................................... 124 Statement for the Record from: Jerry Cerasale, Senior Vice President, Direct Marketing Association ......... 130 Lisa Maatz, Director of Public Policy and Government Relations Amer- ican Association of University Women (AAUW) ......................................... 132 Wade Henderson, President and CEO, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights .............................................................................. 135 (III) CENSUS: PLANNING AHEAD FOR 2020 WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 2012 U.S. SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE ON FEDERAL FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT, GOVERNMENT INFORMATION, FEDERAL SERVICES, AND INTERNATIONAL SECURITY, OF THE COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS, Washington, DC. The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:34 p.m., in Room SD–342, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Thomas R. Carper, Chairman of the Subcommittee, presiding. Present: Senators Carper, Brown, and Coburn. OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR CARPER Senator CARPER. This hearing will come to order. Welcome, one and all. Today’s hearing will examine lessons learned from the 2010 census, while identifying issues that show promise for pro- ducing an even more accurate and hopefully more cost-effective census in 2020. I want to begin by thanking Dr. Groves for his commitment to public service and for his willingness to help the Bureau navigate through some very challenging times. I must admit the news of your decision to leave this post as Director of the Census Bureau is bittersweet. It is actually mostly bitter, if you want to know the truth. But when you came on board in 2009, the Census Bureau faced many challenges that threatened the success of the 2010 cen- sus, as we will all recall, and you along with your dedicated staff confronted these challenges head on, and through his very impres- sive skill set and background in these issues related to the census and statistics, he helped right the ship through the completion of the 2010 census. And under your leadership, the Bureau completed key operations on schedule, hired nearly 900,000 temporary workers at a time when a lot of people needed jobs, obtained an exceptional participa- tion rate of 74 percent, and managed to report population figures in time to support the redistricting. The Bureau has also realigned its national field office structure and implemented key manage- ment reforms, reducing costs by an estimated $15 to $18 million annually beginning in 2014. Three years after your arrival, Dr. Groves definitely leaves the Census, I think, in better shape than when you found it. However, despite these achievements, the 2010 census was still the most expensive in our Nation’s history, by far, and even taking (1) 2 inflation into account, the total cost of the single operation esca- lated from an initial estimate of about $11.3 billion to right around $13 billion. Even more disturbing is the fact that with all the mod- ern scientific improvements in technological advancements that have been made over the years, the framework for conducting the 2010 census was based off of a model that we first used in the 1970s. In fact, I have just been re-reading part of the Old Testa- ment, and found that King David ordered a census. Got in trouble with the Lord for ordering it; I do not know why. But they were doing a census all this time ago. They did not have these handheld—I think it was mentioned, I think, in the Book of Samuel about the handhelds. No, not really. But pretty much we are not a whole lot further along than we were then. Ac- tually, we are, but you get the gist. Although the methodology basics of the census have remained the same over the past 40 years, the cost of the census has decid- edly not. The average cost per household was about $97 in 2010, compared to $70 in 2000, and $16 in 1970. The total cost of the 2020 census could rise to as much as $30 billion. This, in my view, is just not acceptable. We cannot do that. And it is especially not acceptable at a time when we are struggling to find solutions to the serious deficit and debt crisis our country is currently facing. I have spoken at previous hearings about the need for us to look in every nook and