The top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee called President Donald Trump’s firing of Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erika McEntarfer on Friday “the act of somebody who is soft, weak and afraid to own up to the reality of the damage his chaos is inflicting on our economy.”
“Bottom line, Trump wants to cook the books,” said Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon in a statement shortly after Trump fired McEntarfer on the heels of a weaker-than-expected jobs report by the BLS.
“Trump can’t get through a single day without making some catastrophic decision that undermines confidence in the U.S. economy, and although the Bureau of Labor Statistics might sound obscure to people outside Washington, Trump’s interference with jobs data is a nightmare scenario that will do long-lasting harm,” Wyden said.
“It’s long past time for Senate Republicans to find the courage to stand up to this dictatorial behavior, and there is no way the Senate can accept some Trump lackey as the head of BLS,” the senator said.
Wyden’s criticism was echoed by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who said Trump was acting like a dictator and a “bad leader” who “shoots the messenger” after hearing bad news about the economy.
“Well, Donald Trump, firing her isn’t going to relieve the chaos that you created with your ramshackle tariff regime,” Schumer said on the Senate floor.
The White House did not immediately reply to a request for comment from CNBC on Wyden’s statement.
Trump, in a social media post, had accused McEntarfer, who was appointed by former President Joe Biden, of falsifying jobs report numbers before the 2024 election “to try and boost” the chances of Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris against Trump
“We need accurate Jobs Numbers,” Trump wrote in the Truth Social post.
“I have directed my Team to fire this Biden Political Appointee, IMMEDIATELY. She will be replaced with someone much more competent and qualified.”
Dr. Erika McEntarfer, Commissioner of Labor Statistics
Source: Bureau of Labor
In a subsequent post, Trump wrote, “In my opinion, today’s Jobs Numbers were RIGGED in order to make the Republicans, and ME, look bad — Just like when they had three great days around the 2024 Presidential Election, and then, those numbers were “taken away” on November 15, 2024, right after the Election, when the Jobs Numbers were massively revised DOWNWARD, making a correction of over 818,000 Jobs — A TOTAL SCAM.”
Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer said in a post on X that BLS Deputy Commissioner William Wiatrowski will serve as Acting Commissioner” of the BLS until a permanent replacement is installed.
