Page 45 - Invited Paper Session (IPS) - Volume 1

IPS55 Hermann H. et al.
senior officials in the Department in which the statistical agency is located.
While OMB does not have line management authority over individual
statistical agencies, OMB approval is needed for any data collection that is
promulgated to ten or more respondents. Moreover, as codified most recently
elin the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, OMB develops system-wide
standards to ensure federal statistics are of high quality and that the burden
on the public is minimized.
In addition to being more decentralized at the federal level than most
other national statistical systems, the US system also differs from many in both
the degree of oversight by the legislative branch and the extent of the
authority of the heads of the statistical agencies. The United States
Constitution is predicated on three branches of government: legislative,
executive and judicial. This separation of powers was created because of the
suspicion of the founders of an all too powerful executive which could become
tyrannical and on the need to balance power in the government. The
legislative branch (the Congress of the United States) enacts laws and both
authorizes domestic activities and appropriates funds. It is the executive
branch which is responsible for implementing the laws and regulations
enacted by the Congress. Finally the judicial branch interprets the laws and
adjudicates disputes between the other branches. Congress also has oversight
responsibilities over the operations of the executive branch. Tensions exist
over the extent and appropriateness of these oversight functions and these
are exacerbated when different political parties control the Congress and the
executive branch.
Each statistical agency must obtain yearly approval for its budget and
proposed activities, and any significant changes in the agency’s program
during the year often must be approved by designated committees in the
Congress. As a result, decisions which might be thought of as “professional
decisions” best left to the heads of statistical agencies and the career staff in
the Statistical Policy Office of the OMB often involve political appointees in
the executive branch, elected members of Congress and career statisticians.

For example:
• The questions to be asked on the census and the operational
activities of the census have to be approved by Congressional
committees,
• Approval to suspend a survey or make significant changes in
the sample size must be approved by political appointees in
the Executive Branch and often by Congressional committees,
• Race and ethnicity classification standards are developed in
consultation with Congress.

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