Does welfare reform work? Do food stamps really feed the needy? Are government assistance programs really helping those in need? How effective is our social safety net? Congress certainly doesn’t want to know. Right now, the House Appropriations Committee is considering a Bush recommendation to terminate a program designed to answer these questions. In 1984 the Census Bureau initiated the Survey of Income and Program Participation, or SIPP. SIPP’s purpose is to “collect source and amount of income, labor force information, program participation and eligibility data, and general demographic characteristics to measure the effectiveness of existing federal, state, and local programs.” It is an invaluable tool used to determine how well (or how poorly) government assistance programs deliver on their promises. Good governance requires good information, and since Congress isn’t interested in the former, one can conclude it’s not interested in the latter. Researchers seeking to understand low-income families and the programs designed to help them have very few places to turn when they look for data, and SIPP is unique in its depth, scope, and quality of data. In other words, it is THE place researchers (inside and outside the government) go to when they look for basic (and more complex) information about government assistance programs. At $32 million per year, SIPP is a veritable bargain because of the quality and amount of information it supplies to policymakers. The existing FY2007 Science-State-Justice-Commerce Appropriations bill calls for just enough funds to wrap-up data collection for this year, effectively ending the program. However, Rep. José Serrano (D-NY) is proposing to add $10 million to keep the program in existence. It isn’t full funding, but it’s enough to ensure that the program continues. UPDATE: Rep. Serrano was successful!