Senator Gary Peters (D-MI) has introduced legislation, the Metropolitan Areas Protection and Standardization (MAPS) Act of 2021 (S. 1941) to address require additional information and public comment in the event of proposals by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to alter metropolitan area data standards. This bill was introduced in response to OMB’s recent proposal to raise the metropolitan statistical area (MSA) population threshold from 50,000 to 100,000, which could impact how various counties, especially those in rural areas, receive federal resources and funding. Notably, OMB proposed the change without understanding or estimating the impact it would have on federal programs, and this legislation calls for transparency on how federal programs currently rely on MSAs.
