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FY24 Statistical Agency Budget Developments

  

The Biden Administration is expected to release its FY24 budget request by mid-March, 2023. I will be filling in information as I become aware of it. This blog entry will track FY24 appropriations developments for the federal statistical agencies and so will be updated accordingly. (See update log below.) To receive notifications of updates, follow ASA Science Policy on Twitter: @ASA_SciPol. 


See also, FY24 NIH, NSF, and AHRQ Budget Developments and federal statistical agency budgets back to fiscal year 2003 (FY03)

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FY24

     Agency   FY18   FY19   FY20  FY21 FY22 FY23  Request   %change vs FY23  House   Senate   Final  %
BEA 99.0 101 108 111.9 116 130 154 19 116 130 125
BJS 48.0 43 43 45 40 42 78 86 35 42.5 35
BLS  612.0  615.0 6282 6422 659.52 697.95 758.37 9 658 698 698
BTS1 26 26 26 26 26 26.25 26.5 1 26.5  
Census 2814 3821 7558 1107 1354 1485 x`1606 8 1354 1501 1382.5
EIA  125 125 126.8 126.8 129.1 135 156.6 16 135 135 135
ERS 86.8 86.8 84.8 85.5 87.8 92.6 98.5 6 90.6 92.2 90.6
NASS 191.7 174.5 180.3 183.9 190.2 211 241 14 187.5 200.6 187.5
 -Census of Ag 46.3 46.9 66.4 80.9 46.9 55.9
NCES3  258.5 260.5 263.5 276.5 291.5 306.5 316 3 306.5 306.5 306.5
 -stats 109.5 109.5 110.5 111.5 111.5 121.5 127 4.5 121.5 121.5 121.5
 -assess 185 185 185 185
NCSES 62.4 64.0 65.0 66.69 67.7 90.8 106.9 18
NCHS4 174.4  174.4 174.4 175.4 180.4 187.4 189.5 1.1 187.4 187.4 187.4
ORES 27 35.45 36.0 35.7  39.7 40.9 41 0.2
SOI 37.1 36.8 35.9 40.0 42.4 41.7 45.6 9

 Levels in millions of dollars; Agency abbreviations listed below; NCES is for Statistics and Assessment (not NAGB or SLDS)
Latest Action: *Subcommittee mark-up; **Committee mark-up; ***Passed the Floor
&Not available because of lack of sufficient detail in summary, bill or conference report; 
NATD (or blank): No Action To Date
1The BTS is funded through the Highway Trust Fund with levels determined by the authorizing committees. Congress is currently working on a transportation bill.
2The FY20, FY21, FY22 request, FY22 "Final", and FY23 Request levels for BLS includes $27 million, $13 M, $28.47M, $28.470M, and $15.4 M respectively, for its relocation. The relocation funds are are not reflected in the table to make the levels comparable with the FY19 and prior year funding levels.
3The NCES budget level includes both statistics and assessment. The levels do not include budget for National Assessment Governing Board. 
4The NCHS budget went through budget realignment in FY21. The prior year budgets have been adjusted to make them comparable.
5
The ORES went through a budget restructuring in FY19 when the Office of Retirement Policy (ORP) was merged into ORES. The FY18 ORP budget was $2.253M.

Because this blog entry covers everything from the budget request to the final determination of the budget, it can become quite long. To help with that, I'll try to partition the blog entry:

Relevant Report Language Excerpts:


FY24 Budget Request Highlights
The following are excerpts and highlights. They are not in narrative form but are intended to provide you a quick snapshot. The notes also serve as a sort of note book for me for when I write a summary for Amstat News.

  • Economic Statistics call-out in OMB FY24 main briefing book
    • Improves Economic Statistics.  The Budget includes investments at the Census Bureau and the Bureau of economic Analysis (BeA) that would expand understanding of post-secondary employment outcomes, use new data sources to improve measures of population health, improve data about Puerto Rico’s people and economy, and fund research on environmentaleconomic statistics.  The Budget provides $154 million for BeA, a $24 million increase from the 2023 enacted level, and provides $1.6 billion for the Census Bureau, a $121 million increase from the 2023 enacted level. p. 61
  • BJS: https://www.justice.gov/d9/2023-03/ojp_fy_2024_presidents_budget_final_draft_clean_3.17.23.pdf
    Census: https://www.commerce.gov/sites/default/files/2023-03/Census-FY2024-Congressional-Budget-Submission.pdf
    • Current Economic Statistics, +$19.9 million

    • Current Demographic Statistics, +$12.6 million

    • Economic Census and Census of Governments, -$23.6 million

    • 2030 Census, +$163.5 million

    • 2020 Census, -$142.3 million

    • Administrative Records Research and Integration, +$1.7 million

    • Enterprise Dissemination Services, +$1.4 million

    • Data Ingest and Collection for the Enterprise, +$43.6 million

    • Enterprise Data Lake, +$3.7 million

    • Research and Applications, +$6.2 million

  • BEA: https://www.commerce.gov/sites/default/files/2023-03/BEA-FY2024-Congressional-Budget-Submission.pdf
    EIA: https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2023-03/doe-fy-2024-budget-vol-2-eia.pdf The FY 2024 Budget Request of $156,550,000 will enable EIA to continue delivering the critical energy information products on which its stakeholders rely, including weekly petroleum and natural gas inventory reports, comprehensive monthly forecasts of rapidly-changing energy markets, and long-term outlooks for U.S. and global energy production and consumption. This funding will also enable EIA to follow through on efforts to expand its coverage of a dynamic and transitional energy sector, including initiatives undertaken in response to the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). For example, EIA will:

      • Deliver timely insights on electric grid operations so that stakeholders have access to high-value, near realtime data on actual electricity demand, demand forecasts, pricing, and emissions; and expanded information on electric vehicle (EV) integration with the grid, including historical data on EV electricity consumption and infrastructure. 
      • Expand the energy consumption data program to enable EIA to track and report on short-term shifts in energy consumption patterns and begin developing enhanced visualization capabilities for these data.
      • Modernize the National Energy Modeling System (NEMS) to expand scenario analysis of decarbonization pathways, for example, developing model representations for increased electrification, biofuels, hydrogen, and carbon capture, transport, and sequestration; and begin developing an open source, next generation energy model. 
        • Improve tracking of emissions by acquiring or developing relevant new data and providing enhanced public trend analysis for sectoral emissions. 
      • Expand analysis of international energy issues, trends, and events, such as time-sensitive assessments of significant geopolitical events, and development of spatially resolved international data via interactive maps.
      • Enhance EIA’s short-term forecasts to expand coverage of near-term energy market volatility and transition, and fill a gap in EIA’s modeling portfolio to address market conditions over a three- to five-year timeframe. 
      • Increase information accessibility and usability by leveraging new technologies that offer exciting opportunities for users to access, customize, view, and retrieve data from EIA’s website; and modernize EIA’s IT infrastructure to increase operational reliability and security. 
      • Energy Supply Surveys +$5,000,000
        • Expand near real-time electric grid operations data, including new information on regional emissions and EV integration. 
        • Improve tracking for GHG emissions.  
      • Energy Consumption and Efficiency Surveys +$3,450,000 Expand energy consumption data to track and report on short-term shifts in energy consumption patterns.
      • Energy Modeling and Analysis +$5,900,000
        • Retool long-term modeling capability to more fully address the transitional nature of the energy sector, including decarbonization scenarios.
        • Improve analysis of international energy issues, trends, and events. 
        • Enhance EIA’s short-term forecasts.  
      • Resources and Technology Management +$3,168,000
        • Maintain and enhance cybersecurity capabilities.
        • Increase information accessibility and usability on EIA’s website. 
        • Modernize EIA’s IT infrastructure to enable IIJA requirements.  
  • ERS: https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/19-2024-ERS.pdf 
    • An increase of $2,520,000 for 2024 Pay. This increase will support the annualization of the 2023 4.6 percent Cost of Living pay increase and the 2024 5.2 percent Cost of Living pay increase. Without this increase, ERS will have to fund the increase from our research agreements, reducing the output of economic research we are able to conduct and, potentially impacting initiatives that support the Agency’s and USDA’s Strategic Plans.
    • A decrease of $351,000 for Other Changes and USDA shared services. This decrease represents the reduction in charges for USDA-assessed support services including Enterprise Data and Analytics Services and Enterprise Network Services. 
    • An increase of $6,260,000 for Climate Science Research.  This increase supports climate science research for the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) which coordinates federal research and investments in understanding the forces shaping the global environment. ERS will use $2,250,000 to fund the Survey of Irrigation, a 2024 survey of local irrigation decisions and their impact on drought resistance and $2,500,000 for a new annual conservation data series to fill critical gaps in USDA’s understanding of conservation data as it relates to GHG emissions from agriculture. A changing climate influences many aspects of the agricultural economy, and the agricultural sector has impacts on climate change, providing opportunities for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions through better manure management practices to changes in the use of biofuels. 
    • A decrease of $1,078,000 for Economic Research. ERS will reduce research agreements with external cooperators
  • NASS: https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/20-2024-NASS.pdf
    • An increase of $3,561,000 for 2024 Pay:  This increase will support the annualization of the 2023 4.6 percent Cost of Living pay increase and the 2024 5.2 percent Cost of Living pay increase. This amount will enable NASS to maintain staffing levels that are critical to achieving the agency’s principal goal to assist rural communities in creating prosperity, so they are self-sustaining, repopulating and economically thriving. Approximately 64 percent of NASS’ budget is in support of personnel compensation. 
    • An increase of $8,000,000 to support climate science activities. This amount will support enhancements to our existing geospatial program. NASS is creating dynamic, high-performance computing capabilities within USDA’s cloud and analytics platform which allows NASS to both leverage and automate the flow of data from a wide variety of sources, including administrative, geospatial, and economic data to improve the timeliness and quality of planted acreage estimates. The timeliness of these estimates is critical to supporting USDA’s response to extreme weather events. 
    • An increase of $4,012,000 to support inflationary costs in the Agriculture Estimates Program. This amount will support increased costs for printing, mailing, and data collection across all NASS surveys. These costs have risen significantly since 2019 and this funding increase will allow NASS to continue programs at the existing levels.
    • An increase of $2,374,000 for 2024 Pay:  This increase will support the annualization of the 2023 4.6 percent Cost of Living pay increase and the 2024 5.2 percent Cost of Living pay increase. This amount will enable NASS to maintain staffing levels that are critical to achieving the agency’s principal goal to assist rural communities in creating prosperity, so they are self-sustaining, repopulating and economically thriving. Approximately 64 percent of NASS’ budget is in support of personnel compensation.
    • An increase of $12,096,000 for the Census of Agriculture Program to support Modernization Efforts.  This increase in the Census of Agriculture account will allow for a total investment of $25 million in FY 2024. NASS is requesting this funding to advance modernization efforts. NASS’ goals to improve customer service, improve access to data, and modernize IT infrastructure serves as the focal point for the Agency Strategic Plan which communicates and defines the future vision for NASS. NASS has identified specific actions that would provide cost savings by moving the agency towards a more modern approach in how we collect, analyze, process, and disseminate data. 
  • NCES: https://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/budget24/justifications/y-ies.pdf
    • Increase for Statistics to support expansion of the School Pulse Panel, in addition to, a new Geospatial Data Initiative that would enable NCES to grow its capacity to develop, manage, provide, and apply geospatial data and geospatial technologies across education research and program administration.  $5.5 million
    • Increase for National Assessment of Educational Progress to support research and development on innovations to advance NAEP and reduce future program costs.   $4 million
  • NCHS: https://www.cdc.gov/budget/documents/fy2024/FY-2024-CDC-congressional-justification.pdf FY 2024 resources will be used to invest in ongoing and updated statistical agency activities:
    • Continuing to provide high-quality health statistics to inform decisions and policies by maintaining existing health data systems at current functionality and implementing new requirements to acquire data assets for evidence-building purposes. 
    • Maintaining core data systems used by HHS and CDC that monitor changes in the healthcare system and address the most critical data needs of public health.  
    • Informing efforts to expand access to data, including public and restricted data, while protecting confidential information. 
    • Maintaining baseline sample sizes for surveys to produce estimates on key health indicators. 
    • Ensuring maximum efficiency of efforts through statistical agency coordination and alignment of data collection activities across agencies and programs.
    • Advancing work on equity analysis through data collection, such as further disaggregated data for Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders. 
    • Evaluating the use of EHRs in equity analysis to better understand how the data capture health equity variables. 
    • Evaluating misclassification of race and ethnicity in vital records, develop and implement methodologies to adjust for misclassification in published statistics, and develop training materials and targeted outreach to data providers on proper classification. 

Reports on FY24 request:

Reports on FY24 Congressional Developments:

Updates (and sources):

    See also: 

    Statistical Agency abbreviations

     BEA Bureau of Economic Analysis
    BJS Bureau of Justice Statistics
    BLS Bureau of Labor Statistics
    BTS Bureau of Transportation Statistics 
    ERS Economic Research Service
    EIA Energy Information Administration
    NASS National Agricultural Statistics Service
    NCES National Center for Education Statistics 
    NCHS National Center for Health Statistics
    NCSES National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, NSF
    ORES Office of Research, Evaluation, and Statistics, SSA
    SOI Statistics of Income Division, IRS

    See other ASA Science Policy blog entries. For ASA science policy updates, follow @ASA_SciPol on Twitter. 

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