High Country Times

Education and the Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx has criticized the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) for not providing timely information and responses to the Committee's oversight requests. These requests are related to issues with job numbers under the Biden-Harris administration.

In a call, BLS informed the Committee that it had shared documents with the Urban Institute and others on an ongoing investigation. However, the Committee has not received these requested documents.

Chairwoman Foxx commented: “It is evident that BLS is plagued by the same partisan, bureaucratic rot that has become all too commonplace under the Biden-Harris administration. The agency balked at responding to the Committee’s repeated oversight requests about the administration’s botched job numbers release and instead chose to work with cherry-picked government officials and a liberal think tank to produce a lackluster report on BLS’s own terms. Perhaps Vivek, Elon, and DOGE should place BLS under the microscope where it rightfully belongs—the agency has an accountability issue that must be corrected.”

In March, reports emerged of a BLS economist sharing nonpublic information with Wall Street firms. On May 15, BLS mistakenly released data files early on its website. On August 21, some Wall Street firms received job numbers before their public release after speaking with BLS by phone. On August 26, Chairwoman Foxx and Subcommittee Chairman Bob Good criticized exaggerated job growth figures after revised numbers showed an overestimate of over 800,000 jobs.

On September 25, Foxx and Good demanded answers from the Biden-Harris administration regarding these issues. On October 25, after receiving no response from BLS and following additional reports about actions taken on August 21, the Committee renewed its oversight inquiry with a follow-up letter.