May 2002: Support Funding for the BEA and Census Economic Statistics Programs

The funding for BEA and Census is now under review by the Congress. What can you do to ensure quality economic statistics?

• Write your Senator or Representative in support of adequate funding.
• Write the members of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, State and the Judiciary. (This committee oversees the BEA and Census budgets.)
• Urge the chairman of your company to write a letter to Congress.
• Encourage other business leaders in your community to write letters.
  

Tips:

(1) Use the sample letter below. Personalize it to fit your company or institution and send on company letterhead, if possible. You can also download the sample letter as a MS Word document by right-clicking the link in the right column, and selecting Save
(2) Use the links below to locate the addresses of your Congressional representatives.
(3) Send the letter before June 30, 2002.

Note: If you prefer to send an email to Congress, it is important that the body of your message use the following format:

Your name
Address
City ST ZIP

Dear (title) (last name)

Start your message here.

---

The Sample Letter

<Date>

The Honorable <Full Name of Senator or Representative>
United State Senate or United States House of Representatives
<Address>
Washington, DC <Zip>

Dear Senator or Representative <Last Name>,

I am writing to urge your strong support for the President's FY03 budget requests for the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) and the economic programs at the Census Bureau. As a member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, State and the Judiciary, you play an important role in addressing two of the most critical problems facing the usefulness of economic data: (1) timeliness of the releases and (2) quality of service sector statistics.

Specifically, I ask you to support funding in these three key areas:

· We urge you to support full funding for BEA for FY03 at the requested level of $69.8 million. President Bush requested $69.8 million for FY03 for BEA to fund current programs and three important initiatives. Most important, these funds are crucially needed to improve the timeliness of many of BEA's most important statistics. Last year's economic slowdown emphasized the need for more timely data in order to allow business leaders and government policy makers to more quickly respond to macro-economic events. BEA also must upgrade its processing systems to enable it to provide more timely data. Finally, new international classification systems must implemented into BEA's accounts.

· We urge you to fund important economic initiatives at the Census Bureau. The Census seeks to improve the quality of economic data it collects, particularly in the poorly covered service sector. The 2002 Economic Census provides the benchmark data for 98 percent of the GDP measure. President Bush requested $91.7 million in FY03 for the Economic Census. In addition, Census seeks to improve coverage of the services sector and to provide a new quarterly service-sector principal indicator that will help fill the gaps in our information on national economic activity for $5.5 million. Census also needs $5.2 million to improve measurement of e-business. Finally, $13.0 million is needed to improve the quality and timeliness of the international trade estimates.

· Improve efficiency of federal statistical system. NABE supports legislation to provide for data sharing of economic information between the three principal federal statistical agencies to insure comparability of economic measures and increase the efficiency of the system. These agencies are restricted by law from sharing important source data with one another. During the 106th Congress, H.R. 2885 passed the House of Representatives but failed in the Senate. The 107th Congress should consider a similar bill that addresses only the sharing of business data. Any legislation on data sharing, however, must reinforce the confidentially of all information collected.

We understand that all funding decisions are difficult ones. This funding decision is the right one. Please support these initiatives to give business and government leaders the ability to make informed, timely decisions to keep our economy moving in the right direction.

Sincerely,

Your Name
Title
Company

cc: The Honorable Don Evans, Secretary, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th and Constitution Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20230

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Sample letter to Congress (MS Word)

Links to Congressional Addresses:

Senate

House

Members of House Appropriations Committee
Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, State, and the Judiciary