Inside Trump’s Stealth Trick to Rig the Census—and Congress

Catherine Rampell, The Bulwark, July 24, 2026 (requires subscription)

"A VAGUELY OMINOUS BUT LITTLE-NOTICED regulatory filing issued in late June could have a profound impact on business, immigrants, and the balance of power in our country.

"The filing was a notification that the Trump administration had drafted new rules governing the decennial census. The actual specifics of those new rules remain scant. But from conversations I’ve been having with people close to the process, it is widely expected that the administration will try to recategorize millions of immigrants (both unauthorized and legal) as not actually living here in the United States."

Counting on Administrative Records: What we know (and don’t) ahead of the 2030 Census

Diana Elliott, Population Reference Bureau, July 28, 2026

"With each decade, conducting the U.S. census becomes a more onerous task. One particularly enduring—and costly—challenge is accurately counting people who are very hard to count, including those who are transient, have complex living arrangements, and distrust the government.

"The U.S. Census Bureau routinely introduces innovations meant to address this challenge. For the first time ever, the 2020 Census allowed households to respond online. While this option helped with data collection and processing, it did little to change the universe of respondents; as it turns out, the people most likely to respond online are also more likely to respond no matter what.

"Administrative records—existing forms like tax records and beneficiary information used to fill in data gaps when households didn’t respond—proved more effective in 2020. While not perfect, this practice has improved the quality of data for the hardest-to-count populations, and it’s expected to see even more widespread use in 2030.

"With Census Day fast approaching, let’s break down what we know about how administrative records were used in 2020, what 2030 could look like, and why transparency around their planned usage is so important."

"The American Statistical Association today released 2026 Midyear Update: Resources and Leadership Supporting Federal Statistics, the first in a new series of topical updates supplementing its ongoing assessment of the health of federal statistics. The update focuses on staffing, budgets and leadership-the core resources agencies need to fulfill their missions-and finds that agencies continue to operate with substantially fewer staff, reduced purchasing power and significant leadership gaps.

"Federal statistics-produced by agencies including the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Census Bureau, and the National Center for Health Statistics-inform decisions by congress, businesses, researchers and households on matters ranging from inflation and employment to public health and education.

"The statistical agencies have shown remarkable resilience over the past 18 months, continuing to produce the data the nation relies on," said ASA Executive Director Ron Wasserstein. "At the same time, the cumulative loss of staff and leadership raises serious questions about the agencies' long-term capacity to meet their missions."

"The update documents the following trends:

• Staffing losses: All 13 federal statistical agencies have experienced staffing reductions since January 2025. Six agencies have lost at least one-third of their workforce and two have lost more than two-thirds. While hiring has resumed at many agencies, it's only for a handful of positions at most and, for the others, recruitment has barely begun to offset earlier losses.
• Widespread leadership vacancies: As of July 28, 2026, only 6 of the 13 agencies are headed by permanent, non-acting leaders.
• Eroding purchasing power: Most agencies received FY26 appropriations close to FY25 levels, but after accounting for inflation, purchasing power continued to decline. Eight agencies have lost at least 18% of their purchasing power since FY09.
• Proposed further cuts: The administration's FY27 budget request again proposes substantial reductions for most statistical agencies, with funding for 2030 Census preparations as the principal exception.
• Significant agency transitions: The National Agricultural Statistics Service lost nearly 40% of its staff since 2024 and is expected to lose more with a relocation for many positions from Washington, DC, to St. Louis, Missouri. The former Office of Research, Evaluation, and Statistics at the Social Security Administration has lost nearly 70% of its staff amid a restructuring that leaves its future role as a statistical agency uncertain.

"In addition to concluding that agencies are in a weakened and vulnerable position, the authors note that the pace of change has slowed in 2026 compared to the disruptions of 2025. Several agencies have resumed hiring, and, with the exception of the National Center for Education Statistics, most continue to regularly release their products. Some agencies have also introduced new statistical tools and products despite resource constraints.

"At the same time, the report finds that recent policy changes-including changes to civil service protections and new restrictions on privacy-protection methods used by the Census Bureau and Bureau of Economic Analysis-are likely to have lasting implications for the agencies' operating environments."

From the Consortium of Social Science Associations (COSSA)

White House Issues ‘Golden Age of Science’ Report and 2028 Research Priorities (July 28, 2026)

"Earlier this month, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) release a report, Science: A New Golden Age. The report calls for a shift in the way research is funded in the U.S. and centers on Trump Administration priorities in emerging areas like AI. OSTP Director Michael Kratsios discussed the report before the House Science, Space and Technology Committee last week (see related article)."

House and Senate Committees Hold Hearings on the State of American Science (July 28, 2026)

"Both the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation (CST) and the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology (SST) held hearings recently regarding the American scientific research enterprise."

As we covered in several DCSS news items, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) put forward a proposed rule in late May that would broaden and solidify its efforts to establish political oversight of federal grants. (See the July 12 DCSS news item, with links to previous items.) Hundreds of thousands of people responded to that proposal with comments.

However, on June 24, the National Science Foundation (NSF) submitted its own proposed rule that would potentially take effect independently of the OMB rule. This NSF proposal has apparently received less media attention, but it is open for comment until August 24.

Stand Up For Science Foundation, "Here is What You Should Know About NSF’s New Guidance on Financial Assistance"

"On June 24, 2026, less than one month after the Office of Management and Budget released its proposed revisions to the Uniform Guidance on federal financial assistance—the National Science Foundation updated its Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG), now being rebranded or supplemented as the Guidance on Financial Assistance (GFA). The GFA is a direct outcome of OMB’s proposed rule and the contents should alarm all grantees but specifically higher education institutions that are NSF grant recipients.

"NSF is using this update to align its rule with the Trump Administration’s Executive Orders and the still-unfinalized OMB proposed rule on all federal grants and contracts (see page 6). The GFA draft is currently open for public comments, with a deadline of August 24, 2026. Stand Up for Science is alerting the scientific community and urging active engagement to push back against provisions that could harm research integrity, funding stability, and scientific independence."

Read the complete analysis online here and take action through the SUFS Action Center.

See the NSF notice on Regulations.gov and comment by August 24.

See other recent DCSS news items about NSF:

"New NSF policy would ban almost all collaborations with Chinese scientists" (July 12)

"Trump Administration Strips Disability Accommodations at NSF" (June 2)

"New Grant Disruptions at NSF" (May 28)

From the American Sociological Association, July 27, 2026

"Dear Colleagues,
 
"We are writing with important information about the ASA Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant (DDRIG), which has been funded by the National Science Foundation for the past six years.

"After learning that we will not be receiving our next funding increment from NSF, we are suspending the ASA DDRIG program and will not be opening the 2027 application cycle. This does not affect any student who currently holds an ASA DDRIG.

"Over six application cycles, the ASA DDRIG program awarded 153 grants to students at 62 institutions. We would like to extend our sincerest thanks to all the reviewers who have made the program possible and to all the students, both applicants and grantees, whose work has inspired us. We are actively seeking other funding opportunities and will be back in touch with the sociology community if funding becomes available in the future.

"In the meantime, we encourage you to write to your representatives in Congress to let them know how the cancellation and suspension of research funding impacts you, your students, and your colleagues. Please visit ASA Action Center to view our current action alerts on this matter. Feel free to customize your message if you received an ASA DDRIG or NSF DDRI and share how the program helped shape your trajectory.

"Thank you for your understanding and continued support of ASA's efforts to promote the work of sociologists and the discipline of sociology. ASA DDRIG Program Team"

(See the recent DCSS news item on 2026 DDRIG awards to DMV scholars.)

US civil rights agency moves to end demographic data collection after 60 years

Associated Press, July 21

"How many women hold executive-level positions at top U.S. companies? What is the racial and ethnic breakdown of those roles? What is the gender and racial breakdown of the lowest-paid roles at those companies?

"The Trump administration is making it harder for the public to know, moving to toss aside a 60-year-old requirement for tens of thousands of private sector employers to submit workforce demographic reports each year to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the agency responsible for enforcing anti-discrimination laws in the workplace.

"The EEOC’s Republican majority voted 2-1 Tuesday to rescind the data collection requirement, submitting the proposal to a 30-day public commentary period before final approval. The proposal is a quiet but profound salvo in President Donald Trump’s shake up of civil rights enforcement, ending a practice that has endured through 10 Republican and Democratic administrations."

Comment on the proposal

The Federal Register notice announcing and inviting comments on the proposed change is online here. Comments are due by August 24, 2026.

SUMMARY: The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC" or  "Commission") is issuing a proposed rule to rescind and remove the requirements for the filing of the EEO-1, EEO-2, EEO-3, EEO-4, EEO-5, and EEO-6 reports, and the recordkeeping and record preservation requirements related to these reports, under 29 CFR part 1602 because it has preliminarily determined that the reports are inconsistent with equal employment opportunity law and potentially unconstitutional. It further finds the data collected is not narrowly tailored, is unnecessary to enforce anti-discrimination laws, and at a minimum, that any marginal benefits are outweighed by the substantial burdens imposed on both employers, who must submit these reports annually regardless of any specific allegation or indication of a potential violation of the statutes the EEOC enforces, as well as the Commission. As part of this proposed rule, the Commission also reminds stakeholders that, in a notice of proposed rulemaking issued on November 21, 2024, the Commission proposed incorporating into part 1602 references to the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act. In the interest of efficiency, the Commission currently intends to include these previously proposed part 1602 revisions in the final rule issued at the conclusion of this rulemaking.

SNAP Tracker: People Are Losing Food Assistance as the Harmful 2025 Republican Reconciliation Law Is Implemented

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, July 21

"The harmful Republican reconciliation law enacted July 4, 2025, poses great harm to families, including higher food costs, poverty, and hunger. It makes deep cuts to federal funding for food assistance through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), shifting significant new costs to states. It dramatically expands SNAP’s already harsh and ineffective provision taking away people’s benefits for not meeting a work requirement. And it ended eligibility for many people with a lawful immigration status. 

"We estimate that SNAP participation nationwide fell by more than 4.5 million people (11 percent) between the law’s July 2025 enactment and April 2026, based on the latest month of data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and data from the Georgia Department of Human Services provided in an open records request. This estimate uses state data for Georgia due to anomalies in USDA data."

Read the complete report on the Center's website

Homeland Security Limits How Long International Students Can Stay in U.S.

Inside Higher Ed, July 16

"The U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Thursday scrapped a long-standing policy that allowed international students to stay in the U.S. until they finish their program of study. The new rule will limit their stay in the country to just four years unless they receive an extension, as well as restrict students’ ability to change majors and institutions once they’ve arrived.

"International education leaders and experts have argued that four years is not enough time for a significant number of students to complete their degrees; almost all Ph.D. programs are longer than four years, while the average undergraduate takes more than four years to complete their bachelor’s degree."

"The increasing availability of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools has raised important questions about how these technologies are being adopted by individuals and how they affect daily activities across work and non-work domains. Despite the rapid growth of AI applications, there are currently no federal surveys that link individuals' use of AI to a detailed record of their activities.

"The American Time Use Survey (ATUS) is uniquely positioned to fill this gap. By pairing new AI questions with the ATUS time diary, the collection will allow researchers and policymakers to understand when, how, and for which tasks people use AI tools. No other national survey provides this level of behavioral insight; existing federal surveys may collect limited information on technology use, but none provide activity-level detail or link AI use to a continuous 24-hour record.

"Office of Management and Budget clearance is being sought for a new module to the ATUS with a set of questions regarding AI. These questions will provide the first nationally representative data linking AI use to detailed, activity level time use information. The AI items will supplement the ATUS by identifying:

• Whether individuals have used AI tools;
• The tasks for which individuals use AI;
• How AI use varies across demographic and occupational groups; and
• How AI use relates to time spent in work, education, household production, and leisure.

"The information collected will allow BLS and external researchers to examine how AI interacts with individuals' daily activities, analyses that cannot be conducted using any existing federal data sources. The data will be used to produce public-use microdata files, tabulations, and technical documentation.

"The proposed AI questions will be fielded beginning in January 2027 for a two-year period, allowing BLS to capture early patterns of adoption during a time of rapid technological and behavioral change."

Read the complete Federal Register notice and submit comments by September 8, 2026.