Congressional Democrats are pressing the Trump administration to clarify recent changes to the Census Bureau’s scientific integrity policy. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, sent letters Wednesday to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and other officials requesting explanations for the removal of language that protected against political interference in the bureau’s operations.
The updated policy, which took effect Aug. 19, no longer designates “protection from inappropriate influence” as a hallmark of scientific integrity. The timing raised questions among observers, as the revision came one day after the bureau released an unusual document authored by researchers with connections to the America First Policy Institute, a think tank founded by officials from President Trump’s first term. Data and election experts have publicly disputed claims made in that document regarding non-U.S. citizen voting, characterizing them as questionable and falling short of the bureau’s research standards.
Warren’s inquiries come amid what she characterizes as a broader effort to compromise the nation’s statistical system. The administration has undertaken several controversial actions affecting official statistics in recent months. In June, the administration eliminated a data privacy protection method the Census Bureau had employed for decades, leading to delays in releasing certain survey results and potentially reducing available data on rural and other small populations. Additionally, this month the administration proposed an unprecedented change to exclude certain non-U.S. citizens from the census count that determines state representation in Congress and the Electoral College, a move Warren notes could have far-reaching consequences for economic data quality, redistricting, Federal Reserve policy decisions, and civil rights enforcement.
Warren is also investigating whether the Office of Management and Budget, a White House coordinating agency for federal statistics, had involvement in the decision to remove the political-interference language. The senator is requesting answers by Oct. 7 and has asked the Federal Reserve to detail how it ensures accuracy of Census Bureau data it relies upon. The Federal Reserve indicated it plans to respond to Warren’s inquiry. The Commerce Department and OMB have not yet commented on the matter.
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