The Insights Association, the leading nonprofit association representing the market research and analytics industry, joined a letter to Congressional leaders today opposing recent removals of federal data from government websites, including the U.S. Census Bureau, and urging that public data access be restored.
Various federal websites and data were unavailable or unreachable over the last couple of weeks, sometimes just temporarily, including at the Census Bureau. Researchers have been attempting to reconcile previously archived versions to discern fluctuations and what may have been lost or removed.
IA joined with more than 230 organizations on the February 11, 2025 letter, sharing “concern and strong opposition to the recent incidents in which public data have been selectively removed from federal websites, including the U.S. Census Bureau, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Justice Programs, Office of Scientific and Technical Information and many other agencies.”
Howard Fienberg, Senior VP Advocacy for the Insights Association, commented that, “There should be no conflict between the policies of the Trump Administration and the unrestricted public access to crucial American Community Survey (ACS) and census data, especially data related to race, ethnicity, and other key demographic factors. This information is vital for creating representative statistical samples for research studies across the U.S. The diverse applications of census data in both the public and private sectors should not be subjected to unrelated policy agendas.”
The letter was led by the Population Association of America (PAA), the American Statistical Association, and the Council of Professional Associations on Federal Statistics (COPAFS).
The disappearing data sets constitute, according to the letter, a “violation of trust… done without regard for legal and administrative precedent. Federal laws, including the Paperwork Reduction Act, Title 44 of the U.S.C., and the Evidence Based Policymaking Act, are but a few of the major laws governing the collection, dissemination, and protection of federal data. The Administration’s unprecedented action not only violates the spirit of these laws, but also their intent.”
The letter continued by pointing out that, “public data inform key investment and planning decisions in the public, private, non-profit, and academic sectors. Likewise, they are used to monitor the delivery of services that Americans depend on, including health care, education, and essential infrastructure. Removing or curtailing access to these data, even temporarily, erodes the public trust that federal statistical and scientific agencies have earned. These actions also deny the public of scientists and other independent analysts use of federal data so important to public and private sector leaders in their work. Further, their actions have real world consequences, leaving individuals, families, communities, and policymakers alike without access to secure, reliable federal data that they have paid for and expect to use.”
The disappearing data sets constitute, according to the letter, a “violation of trust… done without regard for legal and administrative precedent.”
Finally, the letter called upon Congress “to demand the complete restoration of any federal data that have been removed and to work with the Administration to prevent any future purge or removal of data from federal agency websites and portals.”
IA also referenced these concerns in a recent statement on the confirmation of OMB Budget Director Russ Vought.