An Economist Explains: How to Sort Facts From Fictions
This tension is understandable because the office was established in 1974 to serve as an independent counter to the politically inflected
analyses coming from the White House and, in particular, the Office of Management and Budget, which Mr. Mulvaney now heads.
During his election campaign, President Trump frequently described the jobs numbers as “totally fiction,” “a complete fraud” and “phony numbers.”
But after assuming office, amid reports showing strength in the economy, Mr. Trump said, “They may have been phony in the past, but it’s very real now,” according to an account by Sean Spicer, the former White House press secretary.
The reputation of these agencies is such that Senator Charles E. Grassley, the Iowa Republican, once said:
“Do you question the work of the Congressional Budget Office and the Joint Committee on Taxation?
The chief critic of the Congressional Budget Office is Mick Mulvaney, the White House budget director.
The Congressional Budget Office is responsible for analyzing spending initiatives, while
tax proposals are analyzed by its sister organization, the Joint Committee on Taxation.
Crucial economic statistics — like the unemployment rate, inflation or gross domestic product — are generally produced free of political influence.