Funding Cut for Data on Economic Well-Being / WaPo

[Demeter]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/03/AR2007060301086.html?referrer=email


Funding Cut for Data on Economic Well-Being

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

The survey will still produce national data, but the ability of state officials and lawmakers to learn how programs are working on a state level will largely evaporate, he said.

[marmar]

1. I guess those programs will be easier to eliminate if no one can measure them....

:think:

[maddezmom]

2. sums up the * administration

they could give a crap