Lawmakers and Congressional Staff Seek Demographic Data Collection to Close Equity Gaps
Reps. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) co-authored a letter to Ambassador Susan Rice, Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy, and Shalanda Young, Acting Director Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The letter speaks to the importance of equal opportunity for minority groups and racial equity within the federal government, stressing progress of either requires agencies collect demographic data of employees and applicants.
According to the OMB’s July 2021 equity assessment report, agencies don’t have “structures, processes, or mechanisms to deploy that data for purposes of assessing equity.” The Biden Administration formed the Equitable Data Working Group through executive order on January 27, 2021, to provide the federal government with systematic measurement of equity and inequities.
The Congresswomen acknowledge the working groups as the “first step” towards progress but explain the necessity of providing guidelines to analyze the effect of agency policy on minority and underserved communities to successfully close equity gaps and identify any remaining obstacles. Further, Reps. Maloney (D-NY) and Pressley (D-MA) call for federal coordination with community-based and civil rights organizations.
Naming systemic racism as “an urgent priority” is also the perspective of an open letter from the Senate Black Legislative Staff Caucus (SBLSC) and the Congressional Black Associates (CBA) on October 15, 2021. July 2021 testimony from the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch also stressed the importance of the topic. Rather than focusing on the federal agency workforce, these groups looked at ensuring the Congressional workforce better reflects our nation’s diversity.
A Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies report, cited in the SBLSC and CBS letter, found that people of color make up 40 percent of the United States’ population, but people of color occupy only 11 percent of the Senate’s senior staff positions. The SBLSC and CBA seek career development opportunities for Black Congressional Staffers and livable wage for all Congressional Staffers.
To address similar inequities, the NALEO calls for the creation of a Senate Office of Diversity and Inclusion, and a biennial Senate Staff Compensation Review that includes staff compensation comparison with respect to gender, race, and ethnicity.
Collecting data on staff and applicant diversity will inform the Senate on the current state of the institution, likewise, the SBLSC and CBA “believe that if the United States Congress wants to hold steadfast to its representative form of government, then congressional staffers hired to construct and inform legislation should be reflective of the United States’ population.”
