; Whereas, the Census Bureau, as part of its 2017 Economic Census, included a question in its survey of all businesses asking if the business is organized as a cooperative which will yield both quantitative and qualitative data on the effects and importance of cooperatives across the American economy; Whereas the University of Wisconsin Center for Cooperatives completed a research study in 2009, entitled, Research on the Economic Impacts of Cooperatives , wherein they built a comprehensive list of all United States cooperatives, gathered economic data from cooperatives, analyzed the direct and indirect economic impacts of cooperatives, and developed approaches for measuring the unique economic and social impacts of cooperatives; Whereas, in 2017, the University of Wisconsin Center for Cooperatives found that there were 64,017 cooperatives in the United States operating in the commercial sales, marketing and production, financial services, social and public services, and utilities sectors; Whereas in the utility services sector, utility cooperatives are tasked with the delivery of public services such as electricity, water, telecommunications, and broadband, mainly throughout the rural United States, where investor-owned utility companies typically do not operate due to low profitability; Whereas in the financial services sector, cooperatives including credit unions, farm credit banks, and financing organizations that lend to cooperatives ensure that all revenue is funneled back into the business to lower interest rates and provide other benefits to its member-owners; Whereas in the insurance sector, the first cooperative was a mutual insurance company founded in 1752 by Benjamin Franklin; Whereas with no stockholders, policyholders vote in board elections and profits earned are cycled back into cost saving programs or returned as dividend payments; Whereas in purchasing and shared-service cooperatives, independent and franchise businesses who rely on them thrive