Press Releases

Today, Representatives Don Beyer (D-VA), Kathy Castor (D-FL), Scott Peters (D-CA), Paul Tonko (D-NY) and 75 of their colleagues wrote Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought demanding the restoration of public access to federal datasets and data-driven tools, which are essential to government accountability, public and private sector research, and the work conducted by businesses and non-profits across the country. In the letter, the Representatives argue that this data must remain publicly available because it helps save lives, creates jobs, reduces costs, and fulfills the government’s obligation to American taxpayers who financed these data sets. 

They wrote:

“We write to urge you to immediately restore public access to federal datasets and data-driven tools, which are essential to government accountability, public and private sector research, and the work of businesses and non-profits. Those datasets have been created pursuant to Congressional direction and funded by American taxpayers. We therefore expect that data to remain publicly available, both out of duty to American taxpayers and out of economic common sense. Analyses have found that publicly available federal health data alone adds more than $300 billion to the U.S. economy every year. Accurate, detailed and relevant data can help save lives, create jobs, and lower public and private sector costs. 

“Health data, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) survey data, which is ‘sometimes the only source of state or territory-specific risk behavior data,’ and the Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) Area Health Resource Files, which include more than 80 years of data to track healthcare staffing, hospital spending, and healthcare gaps in states and localities across the country.

“Energy data, including the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Energy Affordability Resource Map, which allowed American homeowners and renters to find federal programs to reduce their energy bills, based on geographic location and eligibility.

“Census data, including File Transfer Protocol (FTP) access to the American Community Survey (ACS) Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS), which allows the American public to create custom tables to analyze Census Bureau data rather than relying only on premade Census Bureau products.

“More than 1,000 other datasets, as the number of open datasets available to the public via Data.Gov has fallen from 307,851 on January 19, 2025 to 306,796 as of February 3, 2025.

“Urgently restoring access to these and other datasets and data-driven tools is critical to government accountability and to our nation’s economic well-being.”

Full text of the letter follows below, and a signed copy is available here. 

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Dear Director Vought:

We write to urge you to immediately restore public access to federal datasets and data-driven tools, which are essential to government accountability, public and private sector research, and the work of businesses and non-profits. Those datasets have been created pursuant to Congressional direction and funded by American taxpayers. We therefore expect that data to remain publicly available, both out of duty to American taxpayers and out of economic common sense. Analyses have found that publicly available federal health data alone adds more than $300 billion to the U.S. economy every year. Accurate, detailed and relevant data can help save lives, create jobs, and lower public and private sector costs. 

We are deeply concerned that those expectations are not being met. Among others, the following datasets and data-driven tools are currently unavailable to the public, or have been made unavailable to the public for a prolonged period in recent weeks:

• Health data, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) survey data, which is “sometimes the only source of state or territory-specific risk behavior data,” and the Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) Area Health Resource Files, which include more than 80 years of data to track healthcare staffing, hospital spending, and healthcare gaps in states and localities across the country.
• Energy data, including the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Energy Affordability Resource Map, which allowed American homeowners and renters to find federal programs to reduce their energy bills, based on geographic location and eligibility.
• Census data, including File Transfer Protocol (FTP) access to the American Community Survey (ACS) Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS), which allows the American public to create custom tables to analyze Census Bureau data rather than relying only on premade Census Bureau products.
• More than 1,000 other datasets, as the number of open datasets available to the public via Data.Gov has fallen from 307,851 on January 19, 2025 to 306,796 as of February 3, 2025.

Urgently restoring access to these and other datasets and data-driven tools is critical to government accountability and to our nation’s economic well-being. We therefore seek clarity on the Administration’s plans to do so. Please provide answers to the following questions:

1. What datasets and data-driven tools has the Administration removed from public-facing websites?
2. Which, if any, does the Administration plan to restore public access to? Please provide a specific plan and timeline for restoring that access.

1. Of those restored or planned to be restored, please identify which have had research parameters changed or data modified to comply with recent executive orders.
2. Of those restored or planned to be restored, has any metadata or functionality that researchers depend on to use the data been modified or eliminated?

1. Which, if any, does the Administration not plan to restore public access to? 

1. If any, please provide written explanations, specific to each dataset and data-driven tool, for why American taxpayers will be denied access going forward.
2. Additionally, please attach copies of all datasets to which American taxpayers will be denied access going forward.

Given the urgency of restoring access to these critical datasets, we request a response to these questions by February 19, 2025. We thank you for your attention to this matter and look forward to receiving those responses.

Sincerely,