CHC Chair Barragán Response on Update to OMB Federal Race & Ethnicity Standards

WASHINGTON, DC — Today, Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) Chair Nanette Barragán (CA-44) issued a response to the announcement that the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) will establish revisions to Statistical Policy Directive No. 15: Standards for Maintaining, Collecting, and Presenting Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity (SPD 15) in hopes to improve how the federal government collects information about race and ethnicity in the upcoming census: 

“The updates to SPD 15 are a positive step forward to help ensure that Americans, including the Latino community, are more accurately represented in federal data reports. Specifically, these updates will also allow Latinos to specify if they identify with more than one Hispanic subgroup. 

I commend the Biden administration for their work to get these changes across the finish line. However, I remain concerned how the standards classify different Latino groups. It may not give a clear picture of all the different races within the Latino community, such as our Afro-Latino communities. 

It’s imperative that OMB, which is in the process of establishing an Interagency Committee on Race and Ethnicity Statical Standards, conduct more in-depth research and work with the Afro-Latino community to ensure our nation collects the most complete and accurate data possible.

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus will continue to stand as a partner with the Administration, the Census Bureau, and our diverse Latino community leaders and advocates to ensure the best possible data collection processes are used for the upcoming census.”

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