Download App

[Trump Administration Tightens Federal Data, Raising Concerns About Political Interference] ⑴ The area of federal data, traditionally apolitical, is increasingly being drawn into the Trump administration's control over all levels of government. ⑵ Federal agencies are changing how they collect and release information, with politics and ideology increasingly becoming part of the process. ⑶ Reliable, impartial data underpins almost everything in the federal government, from distributing benefits and enforcing workplace anti-discrimination laws to responding to public health threats. ⑷ Recent actions involve multiple agencies and various data sources; Health and Human Services Secretary Kennedy requested the CDC remove the description of two deaths in Pennsylvania from its online measles case statistics. ⑸ The CDC had previously accepted explanations from Pennsylvania officials regarding the connection between the deaths and measles; Kennedy and the Pennsylvania governor have been exchanging accusations on social media for days, each accusing the other of politicizing the deaths. ⑹ Last month, the Commerce Department removed wording from its science integrity policy prohibiting political interference; this department oversees agencies such as the Census Bureau. (7) This move comes after the Census Bureau released an unsigned report claiming 24,000 non-citizens voted in the 2020 election, which Trump quickly touted. (8) The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission plans to stop collecting data that helps investigate workplace discrimination complaints; for 60 years, the agency has enforced anti-discrimination laws by examining the demographic composition of companies' workforces. (9) The commission now plans to eliminate the so-called EEO-1 report, which requires companies to provide workforce data by race, ethnicity, gender, and job title. This move comes as the Trump administration is cracking down on diversity, fairness, and inclusion initiatives. (10) A former chief data scientist stated that the current administration is more politicized than she has seen in her 25-year career. (11) A White House spokesperson stated that the Trump administration is committed to providing Americans with timely, accurate, and relevant data, ensuring that critical data such as public health reflects reality, while refusing to waste taxpayer resources on ideological projects. (12) Some analysts point out that data, like bridges or cell phone signals, is an invisible infrastructure; people often only notice its existence when they lose it.