The group launched by Elon Musk to cut federal spending in the second Trump administration is targeting some U.S. Census Bureau surveys it claims are “wasteful," worrying users of federal data who are already concerned about the health of the nation's statistical infrastructure.
The Department of Government Efficiency said on social media this week that five surveys costing $16.5 million that are conducted by the statistical agency for other federal agencies have been “terminated.” It didn't specify which ones. The DOGE post said some of the questions on the eliminated surveys asked about alcohol consumption and the frequency of home internet use.
Other surveys are being reviewed “one-by-one,” said Tuesday's post on DOGE's X account. The Census Bureau didn't respond this week to an inquiry seeking comment.
Based on the post, it's highly possible that the eliminated surveys included the Survey of Inmates in Local Jails, which gathered information on inmates for the Department of Justice, and the Ask U.S. Panel, an internet survey conducted with the Department of Defense, said Beth Jarosz, a senior program director at the Population Reference Bureau, a nonpartisan research organization.
There is a public process for changing government surveys that involves giving notice and seeking public comment, and anything that is canceled without going through that process may be violating the law, Jarosz said.
“These data belong to the public,” Jarosz said. “The taxpayers paid for the data and they should get the data unless they don't want it to be collected anymore.”
The Census Bureau asks the public survey questions in order to help Congress and federal agencies implement laws or develop policies, said Terri Ann Lowenthal, a former congressional staffer who consults on census issues.
“Just picking isolated questions doesn’t make any point DOGE has intended to make, which is, I guess, that the Census Bureau isn’t doing serious work or necessary work, which they are,” Lowenthal said. “I think that tweet suggests the DOGE staff has very little knowledge about data collection and the set purpose of the Census Bureau's mission.”
The bigger concern is whether the Census Bureau is going to be ready for test run-throughs next year of the once-a-decade census, given federal government hiring freezes by the Trump administration and public silence from the bureau about the schedule, Lowenthal said.
Tests next year for the 2030 census are slated for six places: western Texas; tribal lands in Arizona; Colorado Springs, Colorado; western North Carolina; Spartanburg, South Carolina; and Huntsville, Alabama. The census is used to determine how many congressional seats each state gets and helps guide the distribution of $2.8 trillion in annual federal funding.
“The time lost in planning for a census can’t be made up easily, if at all,” Lowenthal said. “The timeline of a census is very tight. Each step builds upon what has been done previously.”
Researchers and users of federal data are grappling with broader concerns about the health of the U.S. statistical system, given disruptions to federal agencies by DOGE, canceled or frozen contracts and the departures of longtime staffers with vast institutional knowledge, Georgetown professor Amy O'Hara, president of the Association of Public Data Users, said during a recent online forum.
Around 1,300 Census Bureau employees have taken deferred resignations, voluntary separations or early retirement in recent months, said Johnny Zuagar, president of Census AFGE Council 241, the American Federation of Government Employees local representing agency workers.
The Census Bureau's roster of top leaders and their staff showed 18 vacancies as of the beginning of the month. The chief operating officer, Ron Jarmin, has been filling in in an “acting” capacity since Census Bureau director Rob Santos resigned this year, leaving the statistical agency without a Senate-confirmed leader.
An Inspector General's report in March warned that the bureau has had difficulties hiring and retaining workers to carry out its surveys. And the Commerce Department, which oversees the Census Bureau, eliminated advisory committees made up of demographers, statisticians and advocacy group leaders who provided expertise to the statistical agency.
“There's a lot of anxiety. There's a lot of frustration because information is potentially threatened due to changes in agencies or changes in programs,” O'Hara said. “There's just this fear that what you had relied on is not going to be available.”
Follow Mike Schneider on the social platform Bluesky at @mikeysid.bsky.social.
FILE - A census taker carries a briefcase as she knocks on the door of a residence in Winter Park, Fla., Aug. 11, 2020. (AP Photo/John Raoux, File)
SURIN, Thailand (AP) — Fighting raged Saturday morning along the border of Thailand and Cambodia, even after U.S. President Donald Trump, acting as a mediator, declared that he had won agreement from both countries for a new ceasefire.
Thai officials said they did not agree to a ceasefire. Cambodia has not commented directly on Trump’s claim, but its defense ministry said Thai jets carried out airstrikes Saturday morning.
Thai Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow said Saturday that some of Trump's remarks didn't “reflect an accurate understanding of the situation.”
He said Trump’s characterization of a land mine explosion that wounded Thai soldiers as a “roadside accident” was inaccurate, and did not reflect Thailand's position that it was a deliberate act of aggression.
Sihasak said that Trump’s willingness to credit what may be “information from sources that deliberately distorted the facts” instead of believing Thailand hurt the feelings of the Thai people “because we consider ourselves — we are proud, in fact — to be the oldest treaty ally of the United States in the region.”
The latest large-scale fighting was set off by a skirmish on Dec. 7 that wounded two Thai soldiers and derailed a ceasefire promoted by Trump that ended five days of earlier combat in July over longstanding territorial disputes.
The July ceasefire was brokered by Malaysia and pushed through by pressure from Trump, who threatened to withhold trade privileges unless Thailand and Cambodia agreed. It was formalized in more detail in October at a regional meeting in Malaysia that Trump attended.
More than two dozen people on both sides of the border have officially been reported killed in this past week’s fighting, while more than half a million have been displaced.
The Thai military acknowledged 15 of its troops died during the fighting, and estimated earlier this week that there have been 165 fatalities among Cambodian soldiers. Cambodia has not announced military casualties, but has said at least 11 civilians have been killed and more than six dozen wounded.
Trump, after speaking to Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet, announced on Friday an agreement to restart the ceasefire.
“They have agreed to CEASE all shooting effective this evening, and go back to the original Peace Accord made with me, and them, with the help of the Great Prime Minister of Malaysia, Anwar Ibrahim,” Trump wrote in his Truth Social post.
Trump’s claim came after midnight in Bangkok. Thai Prime Minister Anutin had, after his call with Trump, said he had explained Thailand’s reasons for fighting and said peace would depend on Cambodia ceasing its attacks first.
The Thai foreign ministry later explicitly disputed Trump’s claim that a ceasefire had been reached. Anutin's busy day on Friday included dissolving Parliament, so new elections could be held early next year.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet, in comments posted early Saturday morning, also made no mention of a ceasefire.
Hun Manet said he held phone conversations on Friday night with Trump, and a night earlier with Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, and thanked both “for their continuous efforts to achieve a long-lasting peace between Cambodia and Thailand.”
“Cambodia is ready to cooperate in any way that is needed," Hun Manet wrote.
Anwar later posted on social media that he was urging the two sides to implement a ceasefire on Saturday night. Cambodia's prime minister, also posting online, endorsed the initiative, which included having Malaysia and the United States help monitor it. However, Thai Prime Minister Anutin denied that his country was even in negotiations over the proposal.
Thailand has been carrying out airstrikes on what it says are strictly military targets, while Cambodia has been firing thousands of medium-range BM-21 rockets that have caused havoc but relatively few casualties.
BM-21 rocket launchers can fire up to 40 rockets at a time with a range of 30-40 kilometers (19-25 miles). These rockets cannot be precisely targeted and have landed largely in areas from where most people have already been evacuated.
However, the Thai army announced Saturday that BM-21 rockets had hit a civilian area in Sisaket province, seriously injuring two civilians who had heard warning sirens and had been running toward a bunker for safety.
Thailand's navy was also reported by both sides' militaries to have joined the fighting on Saturday morning, with a warship in the Gulf of Thailand shelling Cambodia's southwestern province of Koh Kong. Each side said the other opened fire first.
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Peck reported from Bangkok. Sopheng Cheang in Serei Saophoan, Cambodia, and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.
A man sits in a tent as he takes refuge in Banteay Menchey provincial town, Cambodia, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, after fleeing home following fighting between Thailand and Cambodia. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
An evacuee cooks soup as she takes refuge in Banteay Menchey provincial town, Cambodia, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, after fleeing home following fighting between Thailand and Cambodia. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
An evacuee tastes soup as she takes refuge in Banteay Menchey provincial town, Cambodia, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, after fleeing from home following fighting between Thailand and Cambodia. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
Evacuees cook food as they take refuge in Banteay Menchey provincial town, Cambodia, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, after fleeing homes following fighting between Thailand and Cambodia. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
Children raise their hands while receiving donation from charity as they take refuge in Banteay Menchey provincial town, Cambodia, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, after fleeing homes following fighting between Thailand and Cambodia. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
Evacuees wait to receive donation from local charity as they take refuge in Banteay Menchey provincial town, Cambodia, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, after fleeing homes following fighting between Thailand and Cambodia. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
Village security volunteers and resident run into shelter while the blasts sounded too close in Buriram province, Thailand, Friday, Dec. 12, 2025, following renewed border conflict between Thailand and Cambodia. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
