Funding Cut for Data on Economic Well-Being

[maddezmom]

Source: Washington Post

By Lyndsey Layton
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, June 4, 2007; Page A13

It is one of the most important surveys the government conducts -- the only large-scale measurement of the impact of Medicaid, food stamps, school lunches, unemployment and other safety-net programs for the poor.

But proposed Bush administration budget cuts to the Survey on Income and Program Participation, known as SIPP, will significantly reduce the amount of information it generates for the next four years.

"We'll have the statistical equivalent of a Katrina on our hands if the OMB refuses to request funding for the SIPP," Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.) said in a statement. "We need the SIPP to determine which government programs are working and how to best make use of taxpayer dollars in tight fiscal times."

The Census Bureau, which oversees the survey, plans to reduce the number of people questioned nationwide from 45,000 to 21,000. The result will mean that detailed data will be generated for just three states -- California, Texas and New York -- instead of the more typical 31 states, said Preston Jay Waite, deputy director of the Census Bureau.



Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/03/AR2007060301086.html

[whistle]

1. Hey , we are at war, fuck the economic well being or the poor, the sick, the hungry

....as Dick Cheney would say.....:sarcasm:

[JTFrog]

2. They don't need no stinking reports ...

[rodeodance]

3. If no data then no problem. see how simple it is!

[LeighAnn]

4. Good. I wish they'd can the "American Community Survey"

Most people don't know about these Census Bureau "surveys" until they get one with the warning that they'll go to jail if they don't fill it out. Thirty-some pages of the most intrusive questions I've ever been asked by the gubnit. It asks about everything from "physical, mental and emotional" ailments to what time a person leaves for work in the morning. I got mine last Friday and it took all of 20 seconds looking over the questions to shout out, "HELL NO! WTF is this?"

You'll see what I mean when yours comes in the mail :(