January 26, 2023 5:36pm EST
'White' federal workers would no longer include Middle Eastern, North African heritage under new Biden plan
OMB says federal workers of Middle Eastern or North African descent don't have the 'same lived experience' as White people
By Peter Kasperowicz | Fox News
The Biden administration is proposing a change to the way it collects data on federal workers that would allow employees to identify themselves as of Middle Eastern or North African descent, instead of identifying themselves as "White."
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on Thursday announced a series of proposed changes to the race/ethnicity data that it has kept since 1977. The OMB said changes are warranted because people’s preferences relating to how they identify themselves have changed.
The OMB said in its proposal that there have been "large societal, political, economic, and demographic shifts in the United States throughout this period," citing the following examples: increasing racial and ethnic diversity; a growing number of people who identify as more than one race or ethnicity; and changing immigration and migration patterns.
One of those changes would affect current language that requires people to identify themselves as "White" if they have "origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa." But the OMB’s proposed change said many are requesting a new category separate from White people of European descent.
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https://www.foxnews.com/politics/white-federal-workers-no-longer-include-middle-eastern-north-african-heritage-under-biden-plan
