November 7, 2005
CMOR and Research Win Crucial Opening Battle for Census Funding

Great news! The most important part of our fight to secure sufficient funding for the U.S. Census Bureau is over, and the numbers look great for research.

$812 million, CMOR’s preferred figure, has been included as part of a larger Commerce-Justice-Science-State subcommittee spending bill. The Senate version of this subcommittee had threatened to include millions less than this figure.

The measure is tentatively on the schedule for passage this week. We have been told by informed, reliable sources on Capitol Hill that when such a vote occurs, passage is highly likely.

The bill would then be sent to President Bush for his signature. Should Bush choose to sign the bill into law, also a strong likelihood, $812 million would formally become the amount allocated to the U.S. Census Bureau.

So while this battle is not yet over, we can say that the amount authorized by the subcommittee is likely to be the amount passed into law.

CMOR would like to thank all of its members who responded to our recent Call to Action on this issue. Your participation, as always, is vitally important to urgent legislative causes like this one.