Rep. William Lacy Clay Holds a Hearing On Census 2010: Assessing the Bureau's Strategy for Reducing the Undercount of Hard-to-Count Populations

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Rep. William Lacy Clay Holds a Hearing On Census 2010: Assessing the Bureau's Strategy for Reducing the Undercount of Hard-to-Count Populations

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM, SUBCOMMITTEE ON INFORMATION POLICY, CENSUS, AND NATIONAL ARCHIVES HOLDS A HEARING ON CENSUS 2010: ASSESSING THE BUREAU'S STRATEGY FOR REDUCING THE UNDERCOUNT OF HARD-TO-COUNT POPULATIONS

MARCH 23, 2009

SPEAKERS: REP. WILLIAM LACY CLAY, D-MO. CHAIRMAN REP. PAUL E. KANJORSKI, D-PA. REP. CAROLYN B. MALONEY, D-N.Y. REP. PAUL W. HODES, D-N.H. REP. EDOLPHUS TOWNS, D-N.Y. EX OFFICIO

REP. MICHAEL R. TURNER, R-OHIO RANKING MEMBER REP. DARRELL ISSA, R-CALIF. EX OFFICIO

WITNESSES: THOMAS MESENBOURG, ACTING DIRECTOR, U.S. CENSUS BUREAU

ROBERT GOLDENKOFF, DIRECTOR OF STRATEGIC ISSUES, GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE

LESTER FARTHING, N.Y. REGIONAL DIRECTOR, U.S. CENSUS BUREAU

TIM OLSON, ASSISTANT DIVISION CHIEF OF PARTNERSHIP, U.S. CENSUS BUREAU

STACEY CUMBERBATCH, CITY CENSUS COORDINATOR, CITY OF NEW YORK

JEFF TARAKAJIAN, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, DRAFTFCB

[*] CLAY: The Information, Policy, Census and National Archive Committee will come to order. And let me welcome to you to today's hearing entitled "Census 2010: Assessing the bureau's strategy for Reducing the Undercount of Hard-to-Count Populations".

This hearing is a follow-up to the subcommittee's July 2008 hearing on the 2010 census integrated communications campaign. We have with us today invited distinguished colleagues who have asked to participate in this hearing, and they will be here shortly.

And I will ask unanimous consent that they be allowed to participate. Thank you.

And without objection, the chair and ranking minority member will have five minutes to make opening statements, followed by opening statements not to exceed three minutes by any other member who seeks recognition.

Without objection, members and witnesses may have five legislative days to submit a written statement or extraneous materials for the record, and I will begin with an opening statement.

The purpose of today's hearing is to examine the Census Bureau's strategies for two aspects of the integrated communications campaign: One, the Partnership Program and paid advertising.

We seek answers to the questions of, one, how will the communications plan decrease the undercount and increase the mail response rate of hard-to-count communities? And two, whether the campaign messaging will generate community support for the Census.

We will also look at funding for the 2010 census, including the $1 billion allocated in the stimulus bill. Census day 2010 is nearly one year away. Yet, as we learned in our hearing on March 5, there is still much work to be done by the bureau to put its operation plans into place.

The Regional Partnership Program could be very helpful in ensuring that everyone is counted. The program is credited with attributing to the success of the 2000 census. According to a report of the GAO, key census-taking activities such as recruiting temporary census workers and encouraging people to complete their questionnaire would have been less successful had it not been for the bureau's aggressive partnership efforts.

The paid advertising program could also play a key role in reducing the undercount as it did in 2000. The Bureau has plans to use national and local media to get the word out about the Census and encourage participation.

Media buys should seek to reach diverse markets in the most effective and cost-efficient manner possible. We will find out today how the bureau plans to accomplish this goal. I think all of our witnesses -- I thank all of our witnesses for appearing today and look forward to their testimonies.

And I want to thank Ms. Watson for joining us today and I want to go to my friend and ranking minority member, Mr. McHenry of North Carolina. I know you just got here.

MCHENRY: I'm a little winded, yes.

CLAY: I can imagine. Take your time.

MCHENRY: Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you all for testifying today. Chairman Clay and I certainly have the same goal, which is to make sure this is the best census in our nation's history, the most accurate census in our nation's history.

And an important function of that would be to reduce the undercount for this census, and the Census Bureau's Regional Partnership Program and advertising plan are part of an integral communications campaign aimed at reducing the 2010 undercount, reaching hard-to-count communities and achieving a full count decennial census.

Reaching these communities is not only important but also required by the United States Constitution. A full-count census and actual numeration is specifica...

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