Dean Baker noted yesterday that the Bush administration plans to eliminate the Census Bureau’s Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), but is running into some resistance.
More than 400 researchers, including 2 Nobel Laureates signed a letter opposing the elimination of the SIPP. The SIPP is the only major longitudinal survey that tracks the same families over time. While it has a representative sample that allows it to be used to examine issues affecting the whole population, it over samples low income households, which makes it especially useful for examining the impact of TANF, Medicaid, and other anti-poverty programs. Ostensibly, the reason for eliminating the SIPP is to save the $40 million annual cost of fielding the survey (@ 6hours of the Iraq war).
Usually, plans to alter or eliminate major surveys are floated well in advance in order to get input from the community of researchers, policy makers, and advocates that rely on the survey. This plan was crafted in the dark of night and kept secret until the 2007 budget was released.
This may seem like a rather wonky concern, but it’s important. The SIPP data help researchers identify which programs best assist low-income families. As the 400 scholars noted, SIPP “also tracks health insurance coverage, and provides more in-depth information than other government survey on work-family issues, such as maternity leave, child care, and child support.”
Unfortunately, SIPP’s results highlight discouraging trends for Americans at the lowest end of the economic scale. Rather than producing better results for low-income families, the administration has decided to simply stop collecting the data. After all, why address the cause of the bad news when it’s easier to just not receive bad news at all?
It’s something of a trend with the Bush gang — government reports that conflict with the White House’s message are eliminated all the time.
* In 2005, after a government report showed an increase in terrorism around the world, the administration announced it would stop publishing its annual report on international terrorism.
* After the Bureau of Labor Statistics uncovered discouraging data about factory closings in the U.S., the administration announced it would stop publishing information about factory closings.
* When an annual report called “Budget Information for States” showed the federal government shortchanging states in the midst of fiscal crises, Bush’s Office of Management and Budget announced it was discontinuing the report, which some said was the only source for comprehensive data on state funding from the federal government.
* When Bush’s Department of Education found that charter schools were underperforming, the administration said it would sharply cut back on the information it collects about charter schools.
For the Bush gang, the answer isn’t to fix a problem; the answer is to do away with the source that points to the problem in the first place. These guys to take “if we ignore it, maybe it’ll go away” to a whole new level.