This blog is intended to go along with Population: An Introduction to Concepts and Issues, by John R. Weeks, published by Cengage Learning. The latest edition is the 13th (it will be out in January 2020), but this blog is meant to complement any edition of the book by showing the way in which demographic issues are regularly in the news.

You can download an iPhone app for the 13th edition from the App Store (search for Weeks Population).

If you are a user of my textbook and would like to suggest a blog post idea, please email me at: john.weeks@sdsu.edu

Friday, February 18, 2011

Funding for the American Community Survey is Threatened

If you search back through this blog, you will see numerous references to the American Community Survey (ACS). It replaced the long form on the 2010 Census and is arguably the most important data collection effort in the United States. That is why it is so amazing that Congress could act to defund it. This week the House of Representatives is debating H.R. 1, which continues funding for the U.S. government. Among the 538 amendments proposed to this bill is No. 159 by first-term Congressman James Lankford of Oklahoma that, if approved "would prohibit any funds made available in this Act from being used to carry out the American Community Survey." Contact your Congressional Representative and implore her/him to vote against this amendment. Killing the ACS would be a huge setback to policy decisions all over the country, to research efforts all over the country, and to the thousands of businesses who rely upon those data to figure out how to make a profit.


UPDATE--THIS AMENDMENT WAS DEFEATED. THANKS TO YOU ALL WHO RESPONDED AND CONTACTED YOUR MEMBER OF CONGRESS

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