1. Cuts in statistical programs

2. Delays, reduced detail, or cancellations of data products

3. Resources: Decreases in budgets or staffing

4. Undermining leadership and staff security

5. Accessing and using statistical data for nonstatistical purposes

6. Other Situation

1. Cuts in statistical programs

1. BEA cuts (fall 2024)
2. Termination of BLS products, early February
3. Cancellation of virtually all NCES contracts, February 10
4. Likely termination of School Pulse Survey and other NCES collections not required by law, February 14
5. National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 2024-2025 Long-Term Trend Age 17 assessment cancelled, February 21
6. National Law Enforcement Accountability Database cancelled, February 23.
7. Federal hiring freeze halts at least three local censuses for communities that have experience rapid growth since 2020, March 17.
8. The Energy Information Administration is likely cancelling the 2025 edition of its biennial International Energy Outlook due to loss of staff, May 6.
9. The Bureau of Labor Statistics announced it will end calculation and publication of approximately 350 Producer Price Index (PPI) indexes following the release of PPI data for July 2025 on August 14, 2025. These statistics are responsible for measuring the average changes in prices received by domestic producers for their output. The elimination includes data from "PPI industry, commodity, Final Demand-Intermediate Demand (FD-ID), and special index classifications." May 17
10. DOGE announced in a May 20 social media post on X that it had initiated the review of 102 surveys conducted by the US Census Bureau, costing $2.2 billion, many of which are surveys conducted for other agencies. As part of the process, a General Services Administration official sent a seven-page form titled "2025 Survey of Surveys" to federal agencies, according to NPR. May 29
11. NPR reported the resumption of two special local censuses, one in Westfield, IN and the other in White House, TN, after the US Census Bureau received a temporary hiring waiver allowing the agency to hire interviewers. May 30
12. The Bureau of Labor Statistics announced June 6 that, "due to limited resources, [it] is suspending access to its restricted data for the forseeable future" through the Federal Statistical Research Data Center program. June 8
13. According to Bloomberg Tax, IRS’s Statistics of Income Division "is not accepting new proposals for its 2025 Joint Statistical Research Program until staffing levels are improved." The article stated that SOI "typically partners with researchers outside the government to use IRS data to better understand the impacts of tax policy and taxpayers’ behaviors" but that the "the agency doesn’t have the workers to continue the program at this time." July 7
14. Per a notice by the Agricultural Statistics Board, "USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) is discontinuing the Mink Survey and the Agricultural Labor Survey, as these collections are deemed duplicative and/or no longer necessary." September 1
15. The WSJ reports that the USDA is discontinuing the annual contract with the US Census Bureau for the Food Security Supplement to the Current Population Survey (CPS-FSS). Researchers from the Economic Research Service, which sponsors the collection, use the data to publish annual reports in the report series Household Food Security in the United States. The ERS webpages also state, "Food security data have been collected using the CPS-FSS each year since 1995." September 21
16. In September, the USDA discontinued a second ERS interagency agreement—this one with the Census Bureau and the USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS). The agreement used administrative data linked with survey data in a secure environment to inform the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). ERS and external users used the data to analyze such policy-relevant questions as the impact of SNAP work requirements on employment, health, and participation; how long SNAP participants receive benefits and how frequently they return to SNAP when they leave; how underreporting of SNAP impacts the estimated relationship between SNAP participation and food security; and how well SNAP benefits are targeted to eligible populations. October 13
17. According to its website, the Energy Information Agency has suspended its Monthly Solar Photovoltaic Module Shipments Report. The last release date was December 2024. The most recent release date of the annual report was September 2023. December 18

2. Delays, reduced detail, or cancellations of data products

1. Data Resource losses, January 31, ongoing
2. The Office of Homeland Security Statistics has not published its monthly Key Homeland Security Metrics nor its monthly Immigration Enforcement and Legal Processes Report since January, 2025. April 23
3. The Report on Indicators of School Crime and Safety for 2024 that was expected to be released by NCES in July 2025 was pulled from an official publication schedule this week. May 1
4. As a result of a vote by the National Assessment Governing Board, the scope of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP, or Nation’s Report Card) has been reduced for the next 8 years. May 1
5. As a result of Department of Commerce policy requiring the Secretary to approve contracts and grants over $100,000, a "backlog of more than 3,000 requests has built up on [Secretary] Lutnick’s desk" as of the week of May 5, according to the Washington Post. A former Census official noted that the backlog likely includes contracts that the US Census Bureau uses for its 2030 decennial census work and myriad surveys, thereby potentially delaying and otherwise affecting its work. We are not aware of a list of affected contracts. May 15
6. The Bureau of Justice Statistics is removing gender identity references and items from the questionnaires for the National Crime Victimization Survey, the School Crime Supplement, the Survey on Sexual Victimization, and the Survey of Inmates in Local Jails to conform with Executive Orders, according to a recent press report. Their decision follows similar actions by other federal statistical agencies, including the US Census Bureau for its Annual Business Survey. May 15
7. NASS "will stop publishing state and region-specific reports" (i.e., with content tailored to the state or region), according to the Red River Farm Network. They also state, "The state-level data will still be available, but only in the national releases and through the NASS Quick Stats database." May 29
8. NCES's annual report, Condition of Education, was not published by its June 1 deadline as required by law, according to the Hechinger Report. A subsequent update to the article states, "the Education Department updated its website late Monday afternoon, June 2, explaining that the new Report on the Condition of Education would no longer be a “singular report” and instead update indicators on a rolling basis. The department published a sparse Part I highlights report on five topics." June 4
9. According to Politico, the report, Outlook for U.S. Agricultural Trade: May 2025, was released four days after its May 29 scheduled release. Politico links the report's delay to improper political influence, stating, "Trump administration officials delayed and redacted a ​government forecast because it predicts an increase in the nation’s trade deficit in farm goods later this year" and "Administration officials blocked publication of written analysis that normally accompanies the report because they disliked what it said about the deficit." The report is a joint publication of the Economic Research Service and the Foreign Agricultural Service, and is listed on the ERS publication release schedule. June 4
10. The Bureau of Labor Statistics announced June 4 that it "is reducing sample in areas across the country" and had suspended Consumer Price Index data collection entirely in Lincoln, NE, and Provo, UT, in April, with plans to do the same in Buffalo, NY, this month. The announcement also stated, "These actions have minimal impact on the overall all-items CPI-U index, but they may increase the volatility of subnational or item-specific indexes." News reports attribute the reduction to the government-wide hiring freeze. June 5
11. The BEA posted the following update to its Foreign Direct Investment website: "Data tables on sales, net income, and balance sheets of new foreign direct investment in the United States will be discontinued July 11, 2025, due to resource constraints." June 13
12. The Bureau of Economic Analysis announced that "Selected annual detail tables on U.S. direct investment abroad will be discontinued July 22, 2025 and moved into archives." In addition to the eight annual details tables being discontinued, the accompanying news bulletin shared by NPR noted that the data on dividends by country of foreign affiliate and by industry of U.S. parent will no longer be reported and that "tables will no longer be included in the body of the [product's] news release." June 24
13. Release of National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Science results for 8th graders is delayed, according to the Hechinger Report. Administered in 2024 along with the math and reading tests, the science section scores were expected in June following a May announcement from the National Assessment Governing Board. The article links the delay to there being no NCES Commissioner, which was the case from February 24 until the Soldner appointment noted in the previous update. July 7
14. The Bureau of Economic Analysis announced that "BEA is discontinuing annual statistics on foreign affiliates with 50 percent or less U.S. ownership... [and] two tables that provide supplemental industry statistics." July 23
15. The Energy Information Administration will not publish its Working and Net Available Shell Storage Capacity report this year. In addition, the agency removed its Annual Solar Photovoltaic Module Shipments report from its release schedule. The publication of several reports has also been delayed this year, including that of the Monthly Solar Photovoltaic Module Shipments report. Reuters reported in April that EIA would be losing up to 40% in staffing and the President's FY26 budget request proposes EIA's staffing level be 34% less than its FY24 level of 371. July 28
16. A July 29 notice from the Bureau of Labor Statistics elaborated on previous reports that it had "suspended data collection for portions of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) sample in select areas across the country" with the following: "Roughly 15 percent of the sample in the other 72 areas also was suspended from collection, on average. Collection suspension affects both the Commodity and Services Pricing survey and the Housing survey. As a result, the number of collected prices and the number of collected rents used to calculate the CPI has temporarily been reduced." August 2
17. According to a webpage update for the 2025 Annual Updates to the National, Industry, and State and Local Economic Accounts, the Bureau of Economic Analysis is not following its usual practice of "incorporat[ing] Internal Revenue Service Statistics of Income (SOI) tabulations of tax returns for corporations, for sole proprietorships, and for partnerships during annual updates" because is "unable to purchase SOI data for this year's update." It also announced many table discontinuations that we include below in the Update By Statistical Agency list. September 19
18. According to a notice on the website of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, "The 2024 Consumer Expenditures annual data release scheduled on September 23, 2025, will be rescheduled to a later date." No explanation was provided. September 20
19. The Bureau of Economic Analysis announced that, as part of "ongoing streamlining initiatives," it is discontinuing "annual statistics on U.S. affiliates with 50 percent or less foreign ownership," "benchmark statistics that provide supplemental trade and research and development data," and "seven tables that provide supplemental industry statistics." November 20
20. The Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that it "will not publish an October 2025 Employment Situation news release, stating " Household survey data were not collected for the October 2025 reference period due to a lapse in appropriations and will not be collected retroactively." The announcement was included in the October 2025 Employment Situation release on November 20, which was six weeks late because of the government shutdown. BLS also announced that the November jobs data release will be delayed from December 5 to December 16 in order to accommodate an extended data collection period and extra processing time. November 20
21. According to a notice from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the "State Job Openings and Labor Turnover news release will move from a monthly news release to an annual news release. The last monthly news release will occur with the December 2025 data published in February 2026. The first annual news release will be in July 2026." December 10
22. According to website notices, the Energy Information Administration will no longer publish its  Monthly Biofuels Capacity and Feedstocks Update nor the Monthly Crude Oil and Natural Gas Production. The Energy Information Administration posted both notices with links to the published data referenced on the pages. The last updates occurred in November 2025 with the September 2025 data. December 12
23. According to its website, the Energy Information Agency has suspended its Monthly Solar Photovoltaic Module Shipments Report. The last release date was December 2024. The most recent release date of the annual report was September 2023. The Southern California Daily Energy Report, which was not an active program, was also removed from the EIA release schedule this month. December 18
24. Bloomberg News reports that a “closely watched US oil report [from the Energy Information Administration] was delayed by several hours." The article says the delay was "due to federal staffing cuts impacting data crucial to energy markets." It also quotes an EIA statement saying the delay had to do with President "Trump issu[ing] an executive order that unexpectedly gave federal workers extra days off on Dec. 24 and Dec. 26." January 2
25. The Energy Information Administration has discontinued its Natural Gas Storage Dashboard, stating that the "data that was published can be found elsewhere on the website." February 4, 2026. (Reduced data resources)
26. The Census Bureau is proposing to scale back the scope of the 2026 field test of the 2030 census, according to NPR reporting on a new Federal Register Notice. The article by Hansi Lo Wang states, "the agency is now set to reduce the number of test sites to two — Huntsville, Ala., and Spartanburg, S.C. — while adding plans to try replacing temporary census workers with U.S. Postal Service staff" and " cutting a plan to provide Spanish- and Chinese-language versions of the census test's online form." While no rationale has been provided, we note that Congress provided only $118 million of the requested $334 million increase for the budget line that includes 2030 Decennial Census work. February 4, 2026.
27. The Bureau of Economic Analysis discontinued the regular production of four of their satellite accounts in February 2026: Marine Economy, Travel and Tourism, Arts and Culture, and Small Business. In 2024, BEA announced that, "due to budget constraints," the release of Health Care Satellite Account data would be delayed, and the Digital Economy Satellite Account would no longer be produced. BEA also discontinued numerous tables in February 2026, continuing a trend going back to 2024. February 28, 2026 (Reduced detail and cancellations)

3. Resources: Decreases in budgets or staffing

1. Government wide hiring freezes and return-to-work orders, January 20
2. Limits on staff rehiring, February 12
3. Layoffs of probationary (i.e., newer) staff at multiple agencies, starting February 14
4. First estimates of staffing loss at statistical agencies are emerging. We hear from sources close to (but not working for) the agencies that some statistical agencies have lost approximately 10% of their FTE employees over the past few months. The separations are broken down roughly as follows: several percent due to the firing of probationary (i.e., newer) staff; several percent due to the early-separation (i.e., Fork-in-the-Road ) offer; and a few percent due to early retirement, March 7
5. Virtually all staff for the National Center for Education Statistics were terminated on March 11.
6. The Commerce Inspector General finds the US Census Bureau does not have effective strategies to address staffing gaps and high vacancies in field representative positions, based on an evaluation conducted from July 2023 through December 2024.
7. The Office of Research, Evaluation, and Statistics (ORES), the federal statistical agency for the Social Security Administration, has seen its staff size reduced from approximately 80 to 40 since March of last year.
8. Staff losses at the USDA Economic Research Service and the Energy Information Administration could increase to approximately 30% and 40%, respectively, as a result of the large number of staff who accepted the latest Deferred Resignation Program, April 17
9. The USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service is losing 243 employees due to the early-resignation program. This number is approximately 30% of the 2023 staff level for NASS and does not, we understand, include those retiring early or leaving NASS for other reasons (e.g., firing of probationary employees), May 6.
10. The US Census Bureau has posted job ads for field representatives on a part-time temporary basis, signaling at least a partial exception from the government-wide hiring freeze. May 16.
11. Politico reports that the National Center for Health Statistics is one of the CDC entities reinstating people who had received layoff notices. The number of reinstated NCHS employees was not specified. June 11
12. The President's FY26 Budget, which was released in late May, proposes the budgets for National Center for Education Statistics budget and National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics be cut by 58% and 40%, respectively. BEA, BJS, BLS, ERS, NASS, and NCHS would see cuts ranging from 1% to 12%, while EIA would be held flat. The U.S. Census Bureau's current surveys program, which funds on-going surveys such as the Survey of Income and Program Participation, would face a 12% cut, while funding for Periodic Census’s and Programs, which funds the decennial census, the American Community Survey, and the Economic Census among other programs, would see a 32% increase. The overall US Census Bureau has a 21% requested increase. See our summary here and here (tab 4). June 16
13. The US Census Bureau has received a temporary hiring waiver in order to "hire approximately 1,500 temporary field workers to support operations across six test sites for the 2026 Census Test." October 7
14. Approximately 100 staff were laid off from the National Center for Health Statistics in the October 10 layoffs, according to a report to our team. As tracked and documented by the Data Foundation, the impacted positions were "distributed across admin, management, research functions." October 13
15. The agreement to end the government shutdown included a provision to rescind the layoff notices issued during the shutdown. There are unofficial reports that all of the 110 NCHS employees who were laid off have now been recalled or soon will be. November 20
16. The National Center for Education Statistics added three members to its staff directory webpage this week, bringing the total staff to seven. They advertised in September for staff to help with the National Assessment on Educational Progress. December 18
17. A December 2025 USDA inspector general's report documents that the Economic Research Service lost 29% of its staff between January 12 and June 14, 2025. The National Agricultural Statistics Service lost 34% over the same period. January 2, 2026
18. The National Center for Education Statistics added two staff to their directory, bringing the current number to nine. January 14, 2026

1. NCES added two staff to their directory, bringing the current number to 11. January 15, 2026.

19. The new federal workforce site from the Office of Personnel and Management includes data for the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Census Bureau, Economic Research Service, and National Agricultural Statistics Service. They show the following declines from 2024 to January 12, 2026: BEA, -16%; BLS, -13%; Census, -15%; ERS, -29%; NASS, -37%. The OPM figures for 2015-2023 staff levels for these agencies differ from those of OMB and of parent agencies, which we are working to understand. January 14, 2026
20. The just enacted FY26 funding package—for Commerce, Justice, Science; Energy and Water; and Interior—finalizes the FY26 funding levels for the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Census Bureau, and Energy Information Administration as well as the parent agency of the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics. The FY25 and FY26 budgets and the FY26 budget request, all in nominal dollars, are as follows:

The bill also finalizes the budget for the National Science Foundation, the leaders of which will determine FY26 budget for NCSES. See our full funding table. The law also rescinds $15 million from the Census Working Capital Fund. January 24, 2026 (Resources)

21. The just enacted FY26 funding package—which includes the Labor, HHS, and ED appropriations bill—finalizes the FY26 funding levels for the Bureau of Labor Statistics,  National Center for Education, and National Center for Health Statistics. The FY25 and FY26 budgets and the FY26 budget request, all in nominal dollars, are as follows:See our comprehensive budget table going back to FY00 here. The FY26 request also included $124 million in another line "to enable IES to meet statutory requirements, continue critical data collections and studies, and fund administrative expenses in the short-term." February 4, 2026 (Resources)
22. The US Census Bureau posted six advertisements to USAJobs for survey statistician, data scientist, and mathematical statistician, all as permanent, full-time positions. Over the past year, the Census Bureau primarily advertised field representatives, in a part-time, time-limited capacity. February 24, 2026.
23. The Bureau of Labor Statistics is advertising for economists through the DOL Recent Graduates program, which is a one-year program: "Upon successful completion of the program and at the agency's discretion, the appointee may be converted to a term or permanent position in the competitive service." February 28, 2026.
24. The Economics Research Service is advertising for two agricultural economists, one for its Washington, DC location and one for its Kansas City, MO location. This is the first hiring of which we are aware for this agency under the current administration. The Bureau of Labor Statistics and US Census Bureau have continued to advertise for positions over the past several weeks. April 7, 2026 (Resources)
25. The President's budget request (PBR) for fiscal year 2027, which was released April 3, generally proposes flat funding to 10% cuts for the federal statistical agencies compared to their FY26 levels.  The Economic Research Service would see a 17% cut and the National Center for Education Statistics, a 44% cut. The periodic censuses line for the US Census Bureau would see an increase to $1.72 billion, a 47% increase over its FY26 level. For the agencies for which FY27 congressional justifications are available, the proposed staffing levels are mostly level with FY26. See agency-specific updates in section below (to be posted soon). April 7, 2026 (Resources)
26. The National Center for Education Statistics is advertising four positions — three research analysts to manage surveys in the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System and one analyst to direct the Condition of Education report and the Digest of Education Statistics. NCES staffing fell to a low of 3 following the termination of most of its staff in March 2025 — from a base level of approximately 100 — rose to 4 with the addition of an acting commissioner last summer, and reached 11 with hirings in December and January. If filled, these 4 positions would bring staffing to 15. May 12, 2026 (Resources)

4. Undermining leadership and staff security

1. NCES Commissioner Peggy Carr put on administrative leave, February 24
2. The early retirement of the head of the Office of Research, Evaluation, and Statistics (ORES) at the Social Security Administration, increases the number of acting heads for the 13 principal federal statistical agencies to five: BJS, Census, EIA, NCES, & ORES.
3. The Office of Research, Evaluation, and Statistics (ORES), the federal statistical agency for the Social Security Administration, is likely being moved under the Office of the Chief Information Officer, a politically appointed position.
4. Moves by the current administration introduce the potential to undermine the ability of federal statistical agency workforce to withstand improper outside influence in order to meet the requirements of the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018:

1. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) guidance from February 24 mandates that all Senior Executive Service (SES) positions be reevaluated so that fewer will be designated “career reserved” and more designated as “general”, the latter of which may be filled by either career or noncareer appointees.
2. An April 18 White House Fact Sheet states that OPM is proposing a rule to amend the civil service regulations to include Schedule Policy/Career for career employees with important policy-determining, policy-making, policy-advocating, or confidential duties” that will serve as at-will employees. They estimate “50,000 positions will ultimately be moved into Schedule Policy/Career, approximately 2% of the Federal workforce.”

5. The Department of Education named Matthew Soldner as acting commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics. July 7
6. The Chief Statistician of the United States — traditionally a career appointment designated by the Director of the US Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in the Executive Office of the President and housed in the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) — has been filled by a political appointee, Mark Calabria. Calabria is also serving as Associate Director for Housing, Treasury, and Commerce at OMB, a position he has held since February. The Paperwork Reduction Act outlines the Chief Statistician's duties, which primarily consist of setting statistical policy and standards, coordinating the Federal Statistical System, and representing the U.S. in the international statistical community. It remains unclear which of these duties under the Paperwork Reduction Act will remain in OIRA. July 12
7. President Trump fired BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer on August 1 following the release of the July jobs number that also revised the May and June jobs numbers down by 258,000. Trump wrote on social media that the numbers were rigged in order to make him and Republicans look bad. The White House later on August 1 issued an article entitled, BLS Has Lengthy History of Inaccuracies, Incompetence. The BLS commissioner has no role in calculating the numbers. These unfounded statements and the firing undermine trust in the future and by accusing agency heads of past political manipulation. August 2
8. The administrator of the Economic Research Service, Spiro Stefanou, is retiring effective September 15, according to this news report. Stefanou's departure brings the number of statistical agencies headed by an acting official to 8 (out of 13). September 5 (Leadership)
9. NPR reported that George Cook has been named acting director at the US Census Bureau. According to NPR, Cook is a political appointee. He has been acting Under Secretary of Commerce for Economic Affairs since September 1, 2025. September 19
10. Agri-Pulse reported that USDA "has placed a dozen Economic Research Service employees on leave, including the agency’s acting administrator, as it probes a leak connected with the cancellation of a household food security report." September 24
11. Kelly Maguire has been named Administrator of the Economic Research Service, having previously served as assistant administrator for five years. In addition, Carolyn Greene has been named as acting director of the National Center for Health Statistics, following Brian Moyer's retirement as director in December 2025. Seven of the 13 statistical agencies have acting heads. January 14, 2026  
12. The Chief Statistician of the United States has been filled by a second consecutive political appointee, Stuart Levenbach, succeeding Mark  Calabria who assumed the position in July 2025. Levenbach is also serving as Associate Director for Natural Resources, Energy, Science, and Water at the Office of Management and Budget, a position he has held since February, 2025. January 23, 2026
13. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) finalized the Schedule Policy/Career rule, which was proposed in April, 2025. As stated in the April 18, 2025 White House Fact Sheet, the rule amends the civil service regulations to include Schedule Policy/Career for career employees with important policy-determining, policy-making, policy-advocating, or confidential duties” to serve as at-will employees. A Government Executive article states, “Officials estimate that around 50,000 federal workers will be stripped of their civil service protections beginning in around a month…” Other news reports and the April 2025 White House fact sheet also cited the 50,000 estimate. If applied to federal statistical agencies, the rule introduces the potential to undermine the ability of the federal statistical agency workforce to withstand improper outside influence in order to meet the requirements of the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018. The final version of the rule did not adopts requests, such as those of the ASA, to explicitly exempt statistical agency employees from Schedule Policy/Career. February 6, 2026

5. Accessing and using statistical data for nonstatistical purposes

6. Other Situation

1. Statistical Official departures/vacancies (ongoing), (Other: ICSP)
2. The upcoming meetings of the Federal Economic Statistics Advisory Committee, Bureau of Economic Analysis Advisory Committee, Census Scientific Advisory Committee, National Advisory Committee, and the 2030 Census Advisory Committee are cancelled, February 28. (Other: Advisory Committee)
3. The Federal Economic Statistics Advisory Committee, Bureau of Economic Analysis Advisory Committee, Census Scientific Advisory Committee, National Advisory Committee, and the 2030 Census Advisory Committee are terminated, March 4. (Other: Advisory Committee)
4. The two advisory committees for the Bureau of Labor Statistics—the Data Users Advisory Committee and BLS Technical Advisory Committee—are terminated. (Other: Advisory Committee)
5. The contract for the National Academies' CNSTAT consensus study to help the Office of Homeland Security Statistics achieve its broadened responsibilities pursuant to the Evidence Act was “terminated for convenience” by DHS. (Other: Expert panel)
6. The 17-member team at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), which manages the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, was laid off on April 1. The team was part of the Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality, which holds OMB and statutory recognition as a statistical unit of the federal government. This designation grants the unit special protections, including safeguarding the privacy of survey respondents, among other authorities. (Other: ICSP statistical unit)
7. The annual conference of the Federal Committee on Statistical Methodology (FCSM) for 2025 has been cancelled.
8. The Department of Education is proposing that the 2026 data collection for the National Assessment of Educational Progress be done without the "the Foundations of Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018, Title III, Part B, Confidential Information Protection (“CIPSEA”) as a confidentiality assurance." The notice also states, "confidentiality assurances under the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 (ESRA) remain in effect." The impact on response rates and date use are not clear. IES announced a similar change for Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) in April. May 15 (Other: confidentiality protections)
9. Some Department of Education contracts that were cancelled have been revived. NCES contracts for NAEP and likely other programs are among those revived, but they will be managed without the expertise and experience of the terminated NCES staff. We are not aware of a list of revived NCES contracts. May 15 (Other: contract management )
10. NCSES faces major disruption in operations with news that they will be moved to a location to be determined. June 26 (Other: operations disruption)
11. USDA announced July 24 a "reorganization plan to transfer most of the Washington-area staff to five locations around the country and close a number of key USDA offices in the capital region," according to Politico. The plan includes closing the USDA South Building, which is where the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) and components of the Economic Research Service (ERS) are located. July 25
12. According to The Hill and other news reports, President Trump ordered the Commerce Department on August 7, 2025, to begin work immediately on a new census that would for the first time in the nation's history exclude "people who are in our country illegally" from the count. The Commerce Department indicated that the Census Bureau will "immediately adopt modern technology tools for use in the census ... to reflect the number of legal residents in the United States." August 11 (Other: decennial census)
13. White House releases AI Action Plan, July 23, 2025, which assigns responsibilities to statistical agencies in sections on "empower the American worker" and "build world-class scientific datasets." The plan calls for the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Census Bureau, and Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) to study AI's impact on the labor market using data they already collect to analyze AI adoption, job creation, displacement, and wage effects. The plan also calls for the following: (1) promulgating OMB regulations required in the Foundations of Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018, Title III, on presumption of accessibility of federal datasets to statistical agencies and expanding secure access to federal statistical datasets; and (2) creating an online portal for the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES) National Secure Data Service (NSDS) demonstration project to provide a "front door" to AI use-cases involving controlled access to restricted federal data. August 16
14. The Washington Post reported that the Administration plans to end the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency, which "is the umbrella organization for 72 inspectors general across government." This Council is delegated in the Trust Regulation to conduct the audit of the federal statistical agencies or units and their parent agencies for their compliance with the regulation and, specifically, whether the agency or unit "has sufficient resources to carry out the fundamental responsibilities" specified in the Evidence Act.  October 1 (Other: Evidence Act Compliance)
15. Federal News Network reports that OMB has reversed course on defunding the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency. The Council is delegated in the Trust Regulation to conduct the audit of the federal statistical agencies or units and their parent agencies for their compliance with the regulation and, specifically, whether the agency or unit "has sufficient resources to carry out the fundamental responsibilities" specified in the Evidence Act.  We reported the Council's defunding October 1. November 29 (Other: Evidence Act Compliance)
16. According to its website, the Energy Information Agency has suspended its Monthly Solar Photovoltaic Module Shipments Report. The last release date was December 2024. The most recent release date of the annual report was September 2023. The Southern California Daily Energy Report, which was not an active program, was also removed from the EIA release schedule this month. Administrator Tristan Abbey indicated in an interview at the Center for Strategic & International Studies that EIA will launch up to ten new surveys in the coming year or two, including surveys on minerals and data centers, along with the reimagining of EIA's energy outlooks. December 18 (Other: New Surveys)
17. A notice from the Bureau of Labor Statistics states that the response rate for the Current Population Survey "was 64.0 percent in November 2025, a series low." It adds, "The prior 12-month average was 68.4 percent" and "The previous low was 64.9 percent in June 2020." The CPS is the source of BLS's monthly unemployment estimates. December 19 (Other: Response Rates)
18. President Trump's January 7, 2026 Executive Order stating that the United States will withdraw from numerous international organizations, conventions, and treaties includes the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, which is the administrative home for the UN Statistics Division. With the Chief Statistician of the US as our official representative, the United States has been an active leader in UN Statistics Division activities for decades. As noted on its website, they "compile and disseminate global statistical information, develop standards and norms for statistical activities, and support countries' efforts to strengthen their national statistical systems." The U.S. leadership roles include developing the first international principles and practices, chairing the UN Statistical Commission, serving on the High Level Policy Committee, and working closely with the US Department of State to advance US interests. January 9 , 2026 (Other: International Collaboration)
19. According to multiple new outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, "President Trump posted job-market statistics on Truth Social Thursday night that matched official figures released Friday morning," January 9, 2026. The WSJ article also stated the following:

The Bureau of Labor Statistics, which collects the monthly employment statistics, follows strict protocols to ensure the numbers remain private until the scheduled publication. Even the agency’s top official is out of the loop until a couple of days before the release. The goal is to ensure fairness across financial markets, where multitrillion-dollar markets can swing dramatically on positive or negative surprises.

The "strict protocols" referenced in the article are mandated by the Office of Management and Budget's Statistical Policy Directive No. 3: Compilation, Release, and Evaluation of Principal Federal Economic Indicators. January 12, 2026 (Other: OMB Statistical Policy Directives).

20. According to February 5 reporting from NPR, "Participants in this year's field test of the 2030 census may be asked about their U.S. citizenship status." The NPR journalist, Hansi Lo Wang, points to a regulatory filing that cites the American Community Survey questionnaire, which includes a citizenship question, as the source of questions for the test. February 6, 2026 (Other)
21. The final release of the corn-harvested data for the 2025 growing season from the National Agricultural Statistics Service attracted significant media attention because, as Reuters reported it on February 10, "USDA hiked [its estimate for harvested acres] to 91.3 million acres, up 1.3% from the previous estimate and 5.2% higher than in June." (Hyperlinks added to the two estimates and the final.) The Reuters article noted increasing reluctance by farmers to participate in surveys and concern by experts and stakeholders about the possible effects of staffing cuts at NASS and other USDA agencies as contributing to the larger difference. USDA, which is conducting a review, and others noted the large increase in acres planted over 2024, smaller adverse impacts on harvests due to poor weather, and other factors affecting estimates. February 14, 2026. (Other: Estimate accuracy)
22. According to a new ASA resource documenting the status of 71 National Center for Education Statistics studies, data collections, data tools, and projects: 11 are categorized as active; 9 as active but reduced in scope; 24 as inactive; 22 as complete; and 2 as unknown. For the remaining 3, the NCES component of a multiagency activity is inactive. NCES has discontinued the pre-2025 practice of identifying a lead staff member for each activity. February 25, 2016 (Other: Activity status)
23. According to reporting by the Federal News Network, USDA is turning the department’s South Building, home to the  National Agricultural Statistics Service and components of the Economic Research Service, "over to its landlord, the General Services Administration, which plans to sell the building."  The announcement carries through a July 2025 USDA reorganization plan reported by Politico to "transfer most of the Washington-area staff to five locations around the country and close a number of key USDA offices in the capital region." March 3, 2026. (Other: operations disruption).
24. For the March 2026 Prospective Plantings report released on March 31 by the National Agricultural Statistics Service, "[o]nly 37.6% of producers participated, marking the lowest response rate in the survey’s history," according to reporting by Tyne Morgan for AgWeb. Last year's response rate was 44.3%. The article also states, "According to Lance Honig, chair of the Agricultural Statistics Board, the low participation highlights a growing trust gap between farmers and the agency." The article includes a video interview of Honig by Morgan. April 3, 2026 (Other: Response Rates)
25. The Energy Information Administration announced that it "is launching three voluntary pilot field studies to evaluate energy consumption in data centers." The release also reported that, in February, "EIA launched three voluntary pilot field studies to assess the feasibility of collecting data on graphite, vanadium, and zirconium" and that EIA is "in early-stage planning for pilot field studies in other areas of the energy economy, including the nuclear sector." Separately, EIA has renewed its monthly publication of Monthly Densified Biomass Fuel Report: The March release is the first since October 2025. April 3, 2026 (Other: New Studies; Renewed Releases)
26. USDA announced April 23 that the Economic Research Service will relocate some positions from the National Capital Region (NCR) to Kansas City, and that ERS positions moved to Kansas City in 2019 that have since dispersed across the country will be consolidated back to Kansas City as originally intended. The announcement also states that the National Agricultural Statistics Service will relocate some positions from the NCR, as well as some positions outside the NCR, to St. Louis or other NASS offices, while maintaining a field presence for data collection. This carries through the July 2025 USDA reorganization plan and the March 2026 announcement that the USDA South Building in Washington, DC — home to NASS and components of ERS — would be turned over to the General Services Administration. April 25, 2026 (Other: Operations disruption)
27. Following the record-low response rate and data reliability concerns for a recent data collection release, the National Agricultural Statistics Service announced plans to expand its farmer survey efforts for major acreage reports, pending approval from the Office of Management and Budget. According to NASS Administrator Joseph Parsons, as reported by Reuters and AgWeb, the agency intends to increase the sample size for its June 30 acreage report by approximately 35% and by 10% for subsequent reports in September, December, and March. USDA also plans to add plain-language uncertainty disclosures to its reports and launch a new annual review comparing early forecasts to final crop totals. The announcements came at a USDA data users meeting, one day before the April 23 reorganization announcement. April 25, 2026 (Other: Response Rates)
28. A Federal Register notice published April 16 states that, as of May 2025, NCES has removed the Foundations of Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018, Title III, Part B, Confidential Information Protection ("CIPSEA"), as a confidentiality assurance for the Private School Universe Survey, citing staffing changes at the Department of Education. The notice also states, "confidentiality assurances under the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 (ESRA) remain in effect," and that "NCES will consider restoring CIPSEA protections for future PSS collections as appropriate." The Department announced similar changes in spring 2025 for the National Assessment of Educational Progress and the Program for International Student Assessment, as we documented on this page at that time. The impact on response rates and data use is not clear. May 8, 2026 (Other: confidentiality protections)