The U.S. House of Representatives voted Wednesday to eliminate the American Community Survey, reports the Association of Public Data Users . This amendment to the FY2013 Commerce, Justice, Science appropriations bill passed by a vote of 232 to 190.
In the mid-2000s, the American Community Survey replaced the decennial census “long form,” and has become the only source of many types of information on the demographics and housing stock of communities, counties, and states. The survey’s estimates are heavily used to inform decisions about housing needs in Vermont communities. The estimates populate many of the fields of the community profile fields on the Vermont Housing Data website.
The outcome of this vote demonstrates how important it is that data users convey their support for the ACS other similar surveys to their congressional delegations. The Senate is expected to take up the bill next week.
Read more in Business week and the Huffington Post.