Congress Urged to Exempt Data Agencies From Policy Career Change

A statistical advocacy group is calling on Congress to exempt data agency personnel from a new rule that will reclassify thousands of federal workers into “policy-influencing” positions.

The rule, which will give President Donald Trump broad authority to fire nonpolitical public employees, shouldn’t apply to statistical agencies that are “explicitly designed and legally mandated to inform policy, not make or influence it,” according to a letter from the American Statistical Association sent to lawmakers on Tuesday.

Statistical agencies — such as the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bureau of Economic Analysis and the Census Bureau — are required by law ...