Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney, Vice Chair of the Joint Economic Committee, presided over a hearing today on the economic impacts of the 2020 census and business uses of federal data. The hearing focused on the importance of next year’s count, which will be used to produce economic data that businesses rely on to make decisions ranging from marketing strategies to long-term investments.

Here are key excerpts from the hearing:

“Businesses use census data to make economic and strategic decisions that determine the flow of almost $4 trillion in annual private investment,” Congresswoman Maloney said in her opening statement. “When businesses plot their strategies, they look at census data to understand the skills of the workforce and the characteristics of potential customers.”

“Getting the count wrong would be costly with far-reaching effects on nearly every segment of the population and on nearly every industry in our economy,” she added later in her statement. “We would be misallocating resources through misguided business investments and poorly targeted government expenditures. We would be using flawed data as the basis for making and evaluating decisions. And we would be doing this for a decade.”

“The vitality of the nation’s economy and the 6 million businesses inside that economy are greatly affected by decisions made using census-derived data—by businesses themselves, of course, and as well as by the federal government, state and local governments, workers, and students,” Dr. Andrew Reamer, research professor at the George Washington Institute of Public Policy, said in his prepared remarks.

“Because accurate census data is considered the gold standard of publicly available data, it creates a competitive advantage for our country,” Mr. Howard Fienberg, Vice President of Advocacy at the Insights Association and Co-director of The Census Project, said in prepared remarks. “One of the greatest barriers to international expansion is the lack of good, transparent data, but census data gives the private sector the confidence to get their capital off the sidelines and put it to productive use here in the U.S.”

Congresswoman Maloney is co-chair of the House Census Caucus and introduced the Census IDEA Act in this Congress, which mandates a three-year review process for each question proposed to the decennial census. A video of the full hearing is available here, and the Congresswoman’s opening statement is here.

Press Contact (Democrats):

Randy Woods
Randy_Woods@jec.senate.gov
202-503-5943 

WASHINGTON—Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney (NY-12), Vice Chair of the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee, issued the following statement after the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported nonfarm payroll employment grew by 263,000 in April and the unemployment rate fell by 0.2 percentage point to 3.6 percent. Average hourly earnings grew 3.2 percent from the prior year.

“I’m pleased that our economy continues to create jobs and opportunities for Americans almost a decade after the Great Recession ended. That progress is resulting in lower unemployment and wage gains as more Americans enter the labor market or find better paying jobs.”

“But much more needs to be done to reduce the inequality that holds back too many people and limits our country’s economic potential. The black unemployment rate is more than double the rate among whites, and there are still 1.2 million people who have been unemployed for 27 weeks or longer. The share of women working or seeking work remains below pre-recession levels and falls short of countries like Canada and Great Britain, where governments have paid family-leave policies.”

“That’s why it’s so important for us to pass a law that would allow workers to take paid leave after the birth or adoption of a child or to care for a sick family member. I also urge Congress to approve legislation that would require the Bureau of Economic Analysis to report economic growth by income decile and the top 1 percent. That would allow us to track changes in inequality to ensure all Americans benefit from our country’s economic growth.”

Congresswoman Maloney in March introduced the Federal Employee Paid Leave Act (H.R. 1534) that would provide 12 weeks of paid family leave for federal workers. FEPLA would guarantee paid leave for all instances covered by the Family and Medical Leave Act, which currently guarantees only unpaid leave. She also introduced the Measuring Real Income Growth Act (H.R. 707) this Congress and in the 115th Congress. The legislation would require BEA to publish distributional analyses of gross domestic product.

Press contact
Randy Woods
Randy_Woods@jec.senate.gov
(202) 224-2599

Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney (NY-12), Vice Chair of the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee, issued the following statement after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s press conference Wednesday.

“It was heartening to see Chairman Powell shrug off President Trump’s attempts to influence monetary policy, with him saying the Fed is a ‘nonpolitical institution.’”

“Fed independence has served this country extremely well in recent decades by allowing the central bank to focus on its congressional mandates of price stability and maximum employment, which helped America rebound from the 2008 financial crisis. As President Trump continues to put pressure on Chairman Powell in speeches and on Twitter, I hope my Republican colleagues in Congress will join me and others to urge the President to stop interfering with Fed policy.”

“Meanwhile I’m happy to see news reports that GOP senators are reluctant to approve the potential nomination of Stephen Moore to the Fed Board. His appointment would be another attempt by President Trump to politicize the Fed, while his past comments about women make him undeserving of such an important position in our country.”

Press contact
Randy Woods
Randy_Woods@jec.senate.gov
(202) 224-2599

A hearing before the Joint Economic Committee, "Expanding Opportunity by Strengthening Families, Communities, and Civil Society,’’ will take place Tuesday, April 30, 2019, at 10:00 a.m., in 216 of the Hart Senate Office Building. A live stream of the hearing will be available at this link. 

Witnesses:

Dr. Nathaniel Hendren, Professor of Economics and Founding Co-Director of Opportunity Insights
Harvard University
Cambridge, MA

Dr. Ryan Streeter, Director of Domestic Policy Studies
American Enterprise Institute
Washington, DC

Mr. José A. Quiñonez, Founder and CEO
Mission Asset Fund
San Francisco, CA

Dr. Patrick Sharkey, Professor and Chair of the Sociology Department
New York University
New York, NY

Chairman Mike Lee presiding.

Background:

The hearing will focus on how family relationships and community networks can impact poverty and financial instability in America. Democrats believe the federal government can help families and communities address persistent inequality by supporting programs that offer critical services ranging from paid family leave to high-quality schooling.

The Democratic witnesses are José Quiñonez and Patrick Sharkey. Mr. Quiñonez founded the nonprofit Mission Asset Fund, which has pioneered a model that offers people with limited or no access to credit a pathway to mainstream financial services. He will demonstrate that government support plays a key role in helping low-income people improve their financial situation. Dr. Sharkey is a sociologist who has studied urban poverty and inequality, finding that one’s neighborhood plays a key role in determining economic well-being. His research shows how persistently disadvantaged communities have been subject to a lack of social investment, punitive policies and high levels of violence.

Press Contact (Democrats):

Randy Woods
Randy_Woods@jec.senate.gov
202-503-5943