The Subcommittee on Indian and Insular Affairs held an oversight hearing June 13, 2024, on the significant gaps in data collection which create barriers to effective and coordinated federal policy for the U.S. territories. Subcommittee Chair Harriet Hageman (R-Wyo.) issued the following statement in response:
“Data gaps make it challenging to efficiently plan and implement policy. Inaccurate or unavailable data increases the risk of government waste. It also creates barriers for local communities from accessing critical federal programs and opportunities. Quality and robust data, on the other hand, enables policymakers and the government to carry out targeted programs and ensure that laws are carried out in the manner they were intended. Furthermore, it ensures that the local communities are represented when assessing the distribution of federal resources.”
Data quality
In addition to simply leaving some or all of the territories out of data collection projects, federal information collection is also less comprehensive and poorer quality. Information about the territories may be outdated, subject to less rigorous processes in collection and analysis, and less thoroughly reported than comparable information from the 50 states and the District of Columbia.
In some cases, the laws and regulations are more stringent for information collected in the states than in the territories. In other cases, the small population size creates challenges in accuracy. Some examples found that agencies would use quarterly data for states but wait for annual data from territories to have comparable numbers. While Puerto Rico would be a medium-sized state, the other territories have very small populations compared with the states, and that fact affects the way that data from territories is handled.
Consequences
The lack of reliable information on the territories is an obstacle to effective federal policy, and to good decision making among territorial governments as well. This has direct consequences for the residents of the territories, who are U.S. citizens or nationals. Limited eligibility for federal funds is the most obvious consequence of the data gaps, but poor information collection can also lead to poor decisions about allocation of resources and underestimation of needs in communities.
Several examples of this kind involved nonstandard addresses, a circumstance which has led to undercounting of farms in American Samoa and failures to provide disaster relief in Puerto Rico.
Poor data collection also costs U.S. taxpayers. Good stewardship of public funds demands better data collection for the territories. As the committee phrased it in preliminary memo, “[A]ccurate data will promote fiscal responsibility by ensuring federal funds are appropriately allocated based on accurate statistics. Improved data will improve processes for allocating federal resources and implementing federal programs.”
The hearing
The committee noted that “Despite ample notice of the hearing date and the importance of the subject matter, the Office of Management and Budget has declined to appear before the Subcommittee to testify on the issues of statistical data collection in the U.S. territories.”
The witnesses at the hearing included:
- Ms. Melissa Braybrooks, Economist, Office of Insular Affairs, U.S. Department of the
Interior, Washington, D.C. - Dr. Karin Orvis, Chief Statistician of the United States, Office of Information and
Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, Washington, D.C. [Invited/or
designee, declined to attend] - Ms. Latesha Love-Grayer, Director, International Affairs and Trade, U.S. Government
Accountability Office, Washington, D.C. - Ms. Lola Leon Guerrero, Director, Bureau of Statistics and Plans, Government of
Guam, Hagatna, Guam - Mr. Jacobo Orenstein-Cardona, Executive Assistant, Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics,
Government of Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico - Dr. Michael Levin, Managing Partner, PacificWeb LLC, Honolulu, Hawaii
Today’s hearing was a step in uncovering the reasons for existing data gaps, to find comprehensive measures to close these gaps in a fiscally responsible manner and ensure data collection by relevant agencies is thoroughly conducted and reported. To learn more, click here.
