Sponsors (7)
Creates a bipartisan, staffed Commission to improve use of administrative and survey data for evidence-based policymaking—potentially raising analysis quality and public trust—while adding taxpayer-funded costs and privacy risks and embedding a supermajority voting rule that could slow adoption of recommendations.
Federal, state, and local policymakers and agencies (including schools and universities) will receive coordinated, research-driven recommendations and dedicated staff to improve use of administrative and survey data for evidence-based policymaking, improving the timeliness and quality of policy analysis.
Taxpayers and the public will benefit from a bipartisan, non-member Commission designed to provide impartial, research-driven advice to Congress, which may increase trust and reduce partisan bias in recommendations about federal data use.
Individuals whose records are in federal administrative datasets (including taxpayers) may face increased privacy and confidentiality risks if the Commission’s work promotes broader access to administrative data.
Taxpayers will fund a new, uncapped federal program to staff and operate the Commission, increasing congressional spending without a specified budget limit.
Federal agencies, state governments, and other stakeholders may face delays or deadlock on reforms because the two‑thirds voting threshold could prevent the Commission from adopting recommendations and producing actionable changes.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Establishes a 12-member congressional commission to study federal data use and issue recommendations to expand evidence-based policymaking, with authorized staff and funding.
Creates a 12-member, bipartisan Commission on Evidence-Based Policymaking in the legislative branch to study how federal data can be used to build evidence and improve policymaking, and to issue recommendations. The Commission will have a jointly appointed director, a small staff, and must deliver a final report by the end of the 119th Congress. The Commission’s members are appointed by House and Senate leaders (three each), include specified categories of expertise, may not be current Members of Congress, and must adopt recommendations by a two-thirds vote. Funding is authorized as needed and split evenly between House accounts and the Senate contingent fund.
Introduced May 13, 2025 by William R. Timmons · Last progress May 13, 2025