Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) slammed President Donald Trump’s administration for withholding key economic data as the Federal Reserve makes key interest rate decisions.
The Fed Is ‘Flying Blind’
On Wednesday, in a post on X, Warren said that the Federal Reserve was “flying blind” ahead of the Federal Open Market Committee, where it decided to cut its benchmark interest rates by 25 basis points. “That’s reckless,” she said, blaming it on the Trump administration’s decision not to release the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ September jobs report.
According to Warren, the “report was already finished and ready to go,” but the administration has refused to release it, using the government shutdown as a reason “to hide the truth about our economy.”
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“Jobs data tells us how many Americans are working, where the economy is moving and how families are faring in the labor market. And the Trump team is just sitting on it. So you really have to ask, what do they have to hide?” she said.
Warren concluded her post by saying, “Families deserve the facts about the economy, not more lies from Trump.”
Trump Using Government Shutdown To Keep Voters ‘In The Dark’
Warren had accused the Trump administration of deliberately withholding the September jobs report early this month, right at the onset of the federal government shutdown, accusing them of trying to keep voters “in the dark” about the true state of the economy.
As a member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, she also sent a letter to Acting BLS Commissioner William Wiatrowski, urging the immediate release of the jobs report.
Moody's Analytics Chief Economist Mark Zandi has echoed similar concerns and said that the U.S. job market was “weak and getting weaker,” while noting that the BLS report being unreleased at such a time creates a “serious problem” for economic policymakers.
Alternative Data Points To Cooling Labor Market
With the government shutdown through its fourth week, alternative data from private firms and banks point towards a cooling domestic labor market.
The ADP payrolls report released earlier this month showed a loss of 32,000 jobs in September, the steepest drop since March 2023 and a stark miss compared to economists' expectations for a 50,000-job gain.
Similarly, Bank of America’s payroll estimates based on direct deposit data signaled a continued slowdown in the market. According to the Bank’s report, payroll growth stood at just 0.5% year-over-year in September, its slowest pace across several months.
Photo courtesy: Sheila Fitzgerald / Shutterstock.com
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