The Insights Association joined a coalition letter urging Congress to provide $2 billion for the Census Bureau in Fiscal Year 2026 (FY26).
IA joined an April 3, 2025 Census Project coalition letter with nearly 60 other organizations and companies, asking for "robust funding for the U.S. Census Bureau, specifically $2 billion" and for a reversal of "the flat funding that the Bureau has received for the last two years." Data from the decennial census and the American Community Survey (ACS) provide the statistical backbone of the insights industry and our ability to produce statistically-representative data.
FY26 will be "a crucial year in the decade-long ramp-up to the 2030 Census in which preparations and costs continue to exponentially increase. Next year, the Census Bureau will conduct the 2026 Census Test in six geographically and demographically diverse sites nationwide. The tests are historically a major milestone each decade in census planning, marking the start of a major ramp up in funding to ensure everyone resident is counted. The outcome of these tests will inform the operational design of the 2030 Census. As we learned in the run up to the 2020 Census, short-changing funding for testing at this point in the planning process introduces greater risk to a successful outcome. When Congress failed to meet the Administration’s request for 2020 Census planning in Fiscal Years 2012-2017, the Census Bureau had to cancel every planned test in a rural area and on American Indian reservations, including two of three dress rehearsal sites in 2018. After the census, the Bureau’s check of its work showed a net undercount of 5.64 percent on American Indian reservations, and a net undercount of 2.58 percent in areas counted with a modified census packet delivery method called “Update/Leave,” which is used primarily in rural areas. As this example illustrates, postponing planning for decennial operations introduces greater risk to a fair and complete count of the population. Adequate support for decennial census preparations now will reduce the risk of requiring unplanned, emergency funding in the peak years at the end of the decade, improving the agency’s ability to conduct a complete, accurate, and cost-efficient count in 2030."
Meanwhile, a long period of "underinvestment have degraded ACS data, precluded necessary increases in the survey’s sample size and shortchanged the Bureau’s ability to address steadily declining response rates, or revise content, to accelerate research to reduce respondent burden, and make other improvements that stakeholders have recommended for years. To restore and enhance the ACS as part of its FY 2026 funding recommendation, The Census Project urges Congress to add $100 to $300 million to sustain and enhance the ACS."
The Insights Association continues to advocate for necessary funding and support for the Census Bureau's core functions: the decennial and ACS.
About the Author
Based in Washington, DC, Howard is the Insights Association's lobbyist for the marketing research and data analytics industry, focusing primarily on consumer privacy and data security, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), tort reform, and the funding and integrity of the decennial Census and the American Community Survey (ACS).
Howard has more than two decades of public policy experience. Before the Insights Association, he worked in Congress as senior legislative staffer for then-Representatives Christopher Cox (CA-48) and Cliff Stearns (FL-06). He also served more than four years with a science policy think tank, working to improve the understanding of scientific and social research and methodology among journalists and policymakers.
Howard is also co-director of The Census Project, a 900+ member coalition in support of a fair and accurate Census and ACS.
He has also served previously on the Board of Directors for the National Institute for Lobbying and Ethics and and the Association of Government Relations Professionals.
Howard has an MA International Relations from the University of Essex in England and a BA Honors Political Studies from Trent University in Canada, and has obtained the Certified Association Executive (CAE), Professional Lobbying Certificate (PLC) and the Public Policy Certificate (PPC).
When not running advocacy for the Insights Association, Howard enjoys hockey, NFL football, sci-fi and horror movies, playing with his dog, and spending time with family and friends.