Rep. George Whitesides (CA-27) has introduced the Statistical Agency Integrity and Independence Act, legislation designed to protect and uphold the impartiality of key federal statistical agencies and ensure they are able to deliver unbiased information to the American people.
“American consumers and businesses deserve independent and impartial data that they can trust from their government, and statistical agencies must be able to deliver this fact-based data without fear of political retribution,” said Rep. George Whitesides. “As a business leader, I relied on accurate information to make decisions at every level of my organizations and knew that my teams were giving me the data I needed (not wanted) to hear. Now more than ever, as our economy reels from the impacts of haphazard tariffs and instability, we need data we can trust. The President’s decision to fire the Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner solely because he didn’t like their jobs report sets a dangerous precedent, and I hope my colleagues on both sides of the aisle will join me in protecting the independence of our federal statistical agencies.”
On Friday, President Trump moved to terminate the Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner, Dr. Erika McEntarfer, after the bureau released July jobs data showing weak hiring and downwards trends in job growth. The Bureau of Labor Statistics is responsible for producing data on job growth, inflation, wages and other important elements of the economy.
The Statistical Agency Integrity and Independence Act asserts that a President may only remove the head of a federal statistical agency for cause, including proven inefficiency, neglect of duty or malfeasance. It does not allow termination based on the substance, conclusions or timing of any statistical data, report or release prepared by the agency.
This Act protects the Bureau of the Census, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the National Center for Education Statistics and the Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Rep. Whitesides was joined by Oversight Committee Ranking Member Robert Garcia, as well as Reps. Haley Stevens, Greg Landsman and Steven Horsford as original cosponsors.
Like this:
Like Loading...
Related
Tweet This
Facebook
Digg This
Bookmark
Stumble
RSS
REAL NAMES ONLY: All posters must use their real individual or business name. This applies equally to Twitter account holders who use a nickname.
1 Comment
Of course he is. They are not doing a good job, they appear to have partisan employees, and the new, better method to view economic reality is to exclude bloated government agencies’ employment numbers. Yes, they are employed — however, they do not credibly ‘produce’ anything to consume