Lawmakers want insight into staffing and funding at statistical agencies

A top House democrat is demanding a hearing to examine the effects of the Trump administration’s actions at federal statistical agencies. Bobby Scott (D-Va.), ranking member of the Education and Workforce Committee, said committee members should understand how recent challenges of understaffing and underfunding at these agencies are impacting their work. Scott pointed to a recent report from the American Statistical Association that highlights problems like halted projects and reports, low response rates, decreased data production and smaller staff across agencies including the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Economic Research Service and the National Center for Education Statistics. Scott requested a September hearing on how lower quality, less frequent data reports will impact the American public.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.