Questions for the next Fed chair
On Thursday, April 16th, the Senate Banking Committee will hold a hearing to consider President Trump’s nomination of Kevin Warsh to serve as Chair of the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve (or, the Fed) is the United States’ central bank and is charged with conducting monetary policy and promoting stability in the financial system, among other duties. The Fed relies extensively on economic data published by US government statistical agencies, including the Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, and Bureau of Economic Analysis.
The following are suggested questions about the role that government data plays in decisions made by the Federal Reserve.
Economic Trends
The Federal Reserve is charged with a dual mandate of promoting stable prices and maximum employment. The latest Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index indicates that annual inflation is at 2.8% as of February 2026, above the Fed’s informal target of 2%. Additionally, the unemployment rate has risen from 3.4% in April 2023 to 4.3% today, and payroll employment has fallen in five of the last 12 months.
- What do you think are the reasons that inflation has persisted — and that the labor market has weakened — in recent years?
- As Fed chair, what steps would you take to slow inflation and strengthen the labor market?
- How has economic data informed the Fed’s monetary policy decisions through events of the past two decades, such as the Great Recession, the COVID-19 economic crisis, and pandemic-era inflation?
The Fed’s Use of Economic Data
The Federal Reserve relies extensively on economic data published by federal statistical agencies when making monetary policy decisions. This has widespread ramifications for interest rates, economic growth, the job market, and consumer prices. Ensuring the US government’s data remains objective, timely, reliable, and easy to access is essential for enabling the Fed to make effective decisions.
- What role do you think economic data provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the Census Bureau, and other federal statistical agencies should play in the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy decisions?
- What additional data do you think the government should provide to better inform the Federal Reserve’s assessment of the economy and prices?
- What would you do to ensure that data continues to be foundational to the Federal Reserve’s decision-making?
The Bureau of Labor Statistics
The Federal Reserve relies heavily on labor market and price data specifically published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Many of these datasets are based on surveys like the Current Population Survey. However, those surveys have recently faced declining response rates, and, in turn, large revisions.
- What steps do you think should be taken to address these challenges and modernize one of the nation’s most important statistical agencies?
- What opportunities do you think there are to incorporate private sector and state government data into federal statistics about prices and the labor market?
AI-Ready Data
In March, the White House called on Congress to provide resources to make federal datasets “AI-ready” as part of its National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence. As USAFacts recently highlighted, making government data AI-ready means that Americans can ask AI platforms about today’s pressing policy issues, and consistently get accurately cited, contextual government data on return.
- How do you think AI-ready data would impact the Federal Reserve’s ability to access and analyze government data when assessing the state of the economy?
For more information on the Federal Reserve and how it uses economic data when making monetary policy decisions, please see our latest data brief, The Federal Reserve and the Economy.
