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Changes to the Federal Statistical System: Monthly Update
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Midyear Report Amended Because of US Census Bureau’s Website Posting of 2020 Nonresident Voting Analysis Report: The ASA Federal Statistics Health Project team included a September 10 addendum to its July 28 report, 2026 Midyear Update: Resources and Leadership Supporting Federal Statistics, to account for the Census Bureau’s posting of the Noncitizen Voting in the 2020 Election, A Beginning Analysis report to its home page on August 18. The addendum concludes, “The breaching of ... practices, standards, laws, and mission by the noncitizen voting report’s posting is a grave threat to public trust in the US Census Bureau and poses a serious risk to its ability to produce relevant, timely, credible, accurate, and objective statistics.” See pages 4 and 5 of the report for the full addendum.
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Department of Commerce Actions Pose Risks to US Census Bureau and Federal Statistics: After the Census Bureau’s posting of the noncitizen voting report noted above, the Commerce Department updated its scientific integrity order—removing all mentions of the need to guard against interference and inappropriate influences—and proposed a rule that both prohibits questions regarding race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation on the decennial census and specifies that only legal residents can be included in the population count. The former action further jeopardizes public trust in the US Census Bureau and the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Among other effects, the latter action would considerably reduce the granularity and utility of decennial census data and therefore their relevance.
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Commerce Department’s June disclosure avoidance order delays release of a major census product, more expected: In an advisory posted on August 4, the US Census Bureau announced it is delaying the release of the 2025 American Community Survey one-year estimates, which, following previous years’ practice, would have been released this month. According to the post, the Census Bureau is “assessing the impact of the new departmental administrative order (DAO)” for disclosure avoidance “and seeking DAO-compliant solutions to allow the release of the ACS 1-year tables later this year.” If you are aware of delays or other effects of the DAO on products, please let us know. Please also consider joining our citizen science project, monitoring changes in federal statistical agency products.
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Leadership, Modernization Plans, and Hiring Updates: Brett Matsumoto was sworn in as the 17th commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics on August 11, bringing the number of statistical agencies headed by permanent, non-acting leaders to 7 out of 13. Meanwhile, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced the release of the USDA Data Modernization Plan, a major component of which involves the National Agricultural Statistics Service. NASS also advertised for dozens more positions at its St. Louis, Missouri, location. Finally, the September data from the Office of Management and Budget, which include both full-time and other positions, show the Census Bureau added 270 people since June 2026 to bring its workforce level to 10,870, 18% lower than its fiscal year 2024 level.
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