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Changes to the Federal Statistical System: Monthly Update
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FY26 Budgets Finalized The budgets for all nine agencies determined by Congress are now final, including the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Bureau of Labor Statistics, US Census Bureau, Energy Information Administration, National Center for Education Statistics, and National Center for Health Statistics. The FY26 budgets for the Economic Research Service and National Agricultural Statistics Service were finalized in November. Congress okayed the approximately 6% cuts from the FY25 levels for BEA and BJS and only approved $120 million of the $330 million increase requested for the 2030 Decennial Census. The budgets for the EIA, ERS, NASS, NCES, and NCHS were held flat, thereby rejecting a proposed 7–8% cut for BLS and NCHS, a 12% cut for ERS, and a 60% cut for NCES. The BLS budget was increased $5 million (0.6%) to $709 million.
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Leadership Transitions President Donald Trump is expected to nominate Brett Matsumoto, an experienced civil servant, as the next commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The role of chief statistician of the United States has been filled by a second consecutive political appointee, Stuart Levenbach, who succeeded Mark Calabria on January 23. Levenbach continues to serve concurrently as the Office of Management and Budget Associate Director for Natural Resources, Energy, Science, and Water. This transition occurs as seven of the 13 federal statistical agencies are currently led by acting heads, including the National Center for Health Statistics, where Carolyn Greene recently took the helm following Brian Moyer’s retirement. Conversely, the Economic Research Service gained permanent leadership with the appointment of Kelly Maguire as administrator.
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New Staffing Numbers New data from the Office of Personnel Management confirms sharp workforce reductions to five statistical agencies from 2024 through early 2026. The Economic Research Service and National Agricultural Statistics Service have been hit hardest, seeing staff declines of 37% and 29%, respectively. According to its website, the National Center for Education Statistics showed a modest expansion, growing its staff directory from seven to 11 members in mid-January, after having it cut from approximately 100 to three in March 2025.
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Concerning Developments
- The Office of Personnel Management has finalized the “Schedule Policy/Career” rule, which is projected to reclassify approximately 50,000 career federal employees as at-will workers. If applied to federal statistical agencies, the rule introduces the potential to undermine the ability of the federal statistical agency workforce to withstand improper outside influence.
- News outlets report the 2030 census field test may include a question regarding US citizenship status. According to regulatory filings, the test plans to use questions sourced from the American Community Survey, which already includes a citizenship inquiry. In addition, the US Census Bureau is proposing to scale back the scope of the 2026 field test of the 2030 census.
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Resources
We also request your feedback on our 2025 work and your input on 2026 priorities. We highly value your engagement and are eager to learn more about your specific interests in our work.
Should you have any follow-up questions, detailed comments, or suggestions on how we can improve our monitoring and reporting, we invite you to schedule an appointment with our team:
- Steve Pierson: spierson@amstat.org
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Michelle Crosby: michelle@amstat.org
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