en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erika_McEntarfer#Firing_by_Donald_Trump
2 corrections found
She was confirmed by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions in October 2023
The HELP Committee did not confirm McEntarfer; it reported her nomination to the Senate. She was confirmed later by the full Senate on January 11, 2024.
Full reasoning
This sentence mixes up two different steps in the nominations process.
On October 25, 2023, the Senate HELP Committee reported McEntarfer's nomination to the Senate; committees do not give final confirmation. Congress.gov's nomination page lists the committee action as: "10/25/2023 | Reported by Senator Sanders, Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions". McEntarfer was then confirmed by the full Senate on January 11, 2024, by an 86–8 vote.
So the October 2023 committee action was a committee report/advancement step, not confirmation.
2 sources
- PN837 — Erika L. McEntarfer — Department of Labor, 118th Congress (2023-2024) | Congress.gov
10/25/2023 | Reported by Senator Sanders, Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, without printed report.
- U.S. Senate Roll Call Vote 118th Congress - 2nd Session
Question: On the Nomination (Confirmation: Erika L. McEntarfer, of D.C., to be Commissioner of Labor Statistics) ... Vote Date: January 11, 2024 ... YEAs 86.
As commissioner, McEntarfer moved to reduce the sample size of the household survey in the monthly jobs report by five thousand households due to budget constraints.
Available sources say McEntarfer warned that budget pressures might force a 5,000-household cut, but that the cut was not decided and she later worked to prevent proposed reductions.
Full reasoning
The record does not support the claim that McEntarfer "moved to reduce" the survey sample.
A June 2024 analysis from the Peterson Institute says McEntarfer suggested budgetary pressures might require cutting the Current Population Survey sample by 5,000 households, and specifically notes that "the cut wasn't a done deal." That describes a warning about a possible forced reduction, not an implemented or affirmative move to reduce the sample.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics' official biography of McEntarfer goes further: it says that safeguarding the Current Population Survey was a central focus of her tenure and that "she worked to prevent proposed reductions in the sample" that would have threatened data quality and continuity.
So the article reverses the direction of the evidence. The sourced record indicates she warned about potential cuts and worked against them, rather than moving to reduce the sample herself.
2 sources
- BLS Survey Cuts May Blur US Labor-Market Picture | Peterson Institute for International Economics
Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erika McEntarfer suggested earlier this month that budgetary pressures might require cutting the sample size of the Current Population Survey (CPS) by 5,000 households. She emphasized the cut wasn't a done deal.
- Erika McEntarfer — Commissioners | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Safeguarding the integrity of the Current Population Survey (CPS) was another central focus of her tenure... she worked to prevent proposed reductions in the sample that would have threatened data quality and continuity.