DOGE targets U.S. Census Bureau, worrying data users about health of data infrastructure

A census taker carries a briefcase as she knocks on the door of a residence in Winter Park, Fla., Aug. 11, 2020. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

The group launched by Elon Musk to cut federal spending in the second Trump administration is targeting some U.S. Census Bureau surveys it claims are “wasteful,” worrying users of federal data who are already concerned about the health of the nation’s statistical infrastructure.

The Department of Government Efficiency said on social media this week that five surveys costing US$16.5 million that are conducted by the statistical agency for other federal agencies have been “terminated.” It didn’t specify which ones. The DOGE post said some of the questions on the eliminated surveys asked about alcohol consumption and the frequency of home internet use.

Other surveys are being reviewed “one-by-one,” said Tuesday’s post on DOGE’s X account. The Census Bureau didn’t respond this week to an inquiry seeking comment.

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, canceled or frozen 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.

Around 1,300 Census Bureau employees have taken deferred resignations, voluntary separations or early retirement in recent months, said Johnny Zuagar, president of Census AFGE Council 241, the American Federation of Government Employees local representing agency workers.

The Census Bureau’s roster of top leaders and their staff showed 18 vacancies as of the beginning of the month. The chief operating officer, Ron Jarmin, has been filling in in an “acting” capacity since Census Bureau director Rob Santos resigned this year, leaving the statistical agency without a Senate-confirmed leader.

An Inspector General’s report in March warned that the bureau has had difficulties hiring and retaining workers to carry out its surveys. And 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.”

___

Mike Schneider, The Associated Press