Elon Musk and his team, focused on reducing federal spending in a potential second Trump administration, are scrutinizing some U.S. Census Bureau surveys they deem “wasteful.” This move has raised concerns among users who rely on federal data and worry about the state of the nation’s statistical resources.
The Department of Government Efficiency announced via social media this week that they have “terminated” five surveys costing $16.5 million. These surveys, conducted by the statistical agency for other federal departments, included questions on topics such as alcohol consumption and internet usage at home. However, they did not specify which particular surveys were cut.
The post on DOGE’s X account mentioned that remaining surveys are under a “one-by-one” review process. As of this week, the Census Bureau has not provided any comments in response to these developments.
Based on the post, it’s highly possible that the eliminated surveys included the Survey of Inmates in Local Jails, which gathered information on inmates for the Department of Justice, and the Ask U.S. Panel, an internet survey conducted with the Department of Defense, said Beth Jarosz, a senior program director at the Population Reference Bureau, a nonpartisan research organization.
There is a public process for changing government surveys that involves giving notice and seeking public comment, and anything that is canceled without going through that process may be violating the law, Jarosz said.
“These data belong to the public,” Jarosz said. “The taxpayers paid for the data and they should get the data unless they don’t want it to be collected anymore.”
The Census Bureau asks the public survey questions in order to help Congress and federal agencies implement laws or develop policies, said Terri Ann Lowenthal, a former congressional staffer who consults on census issues.
“Just picking isolated questions doesn’t make any point DOGE has intended to make, which is, I guess, that the Census Bureau isn’t doing serious work or necessary work, which they are,” Lowenthal said. “I think that tweet suggests the DOGE staff has very little knowledge about data collection and the set purpose of the Census Bureau’s mission.”
The bigger concern is whether the Census Bureau is going to be ready for test run-throughs next year of the once-a-decade census, given federal government hiring freezes by the Trump administration and public silence from the bureau about the schedule, Lowenthal said.
Tests next year for the 2030 census are slated for six places: western Texas; tribal lands in Arizona; Colorado Springs, Colorado; western North Carolina; Spartanburg, South Carolina; and Huntsville, Alabama. The census is used to determine how many congressional seats each state gets and helps guide the distribution of $2.8 trillion in annual federal funding.
“The time lost in planning for a census can’t be made up easily, if at all,” Lowenthal said. “The timeline of a census is very tight. Each step builds upon what has been done previously.”
Researchers and users of federal data are grappling with broader concerns about the health of the U.S. statistical system, given disruptions to federal agencies by DOGE that have led to canceled contracts and the departures of longtime staffers with vast institutional knowledge, Georgetown professor Amy O’Hara, president of the Association of Public Data Users, said during a recent online forum.
For instance, the Census Bureau’s roster of top leaders and their staff showed 18 vacancies as of the beginning of the month. The statistical agency’s leader, Ron Jarmin, has been filling the job in an “acting” capacity since Census Bureau director Rob Santos resigned earlier this year.
An Inspector General’s report last March warned that the bureau has had difficulties hiring and retaining workers to carry out its surveys. Earlier this year, the Commerce Department, which oversees the Census Bureau, eliminated advisory committees made up of demographers, statisticians and advocacy group leaders who provided expertise to the statistical agency.
“There’s a lot of anxiety. There’s a lot of frustration because information is potentially threatened due to changes in agencies or changes in programs,” O’Hara said. “There’s just this fear that what you had relied on is not going to be available.”
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