President Donald Trump delivered a statement on the economy in August. On Tuesday, he announced he’d withdrawn the nomination of E.J. Antoni as the administrator of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. File Photo by Yuri Gripas/UPI | License Photo
President Donald Trump withdrew the nomination of E.J. Antoni as the administrator of the Bureau of Labor Statistics Tuesday.
Antoni took over in August when Trump fired Erika McEntarfer, whom he claimed — without evidence — had manipulated reports to make him look bad. Antoni’s nomination had not yet been approved by the Senate.
The White House didn’t say why Antoni’s nomination was removed.
Antoni is a conservative economist who has been critical of the BLS’s reports. He was also an economist at the Heritage Foundation.
“Dr. E.J. Antoni is a brilliant economist and an American patriot that will continue to do good work on behalf of our great country,” a White House official said in a statement to the media. “President Trump is committed to fixing the longstanding failures at the BLS that have undermined the public’s trust in critical economic data. The President plans to announce a new nominee very soon.”
On Monday, it was announced that the BLS would not release the September jobs report, due out Friday, because of the government shutdown. The Federal Reserve closely monitors those reports as a barometer of the economy.
Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation, said the organization was “very proud to have him on our team.”
“It is undeniable that BLS needs reform, and E.J. was the right man for the job. E.J. will keep calling for that reform and serving the interests of the American people from his invaluable role as chief economist at Heritage,” Roberts said in a statement to Politico.
The BLS has struggled in recent years with declining survey answers and staffing shortages. But it’s always been upheld as a nonpartisan organization.
On Sept. 10, the Department of Labor announced it would audit the BLS’ data collection and reporting process for the Consumer Price Index and the Producer Price Index.
