Lawmakers Call for Oversight as EEOC Leadership Faces Questions Over Mission, Enforcement, and Funding

On June 17, 2026, Democratic Members of the House Committee on Education and Workforce wrote to Chair Tim Walburg (R-MI), requesting an oversight hearing with EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas. In their letter, Ranking Member Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (D-VA) and House Workforce Protections Ranking Member Ilhan Omar (D-MN) urged for a meeting with Chair Lucas to discuss the EEOC’s FY2027 budget, which cut funding by almost $56 million compared to FY2026, as well as the EEOC’s annual data collection request known as the EEO-1 Report that the EEOC requested in May be rescinded. 

The requesting committee members expressed concern that the current EEOC has not been acting to "prevent and remedy unlawful employment discrimination and advance equal opportunity for all in the workplace." The lawmakers’ concerns focus on recent leadership and policy changes, including shifts in harassment guidance, litigation approval processes, certain gender identity-related claims, disparate impact cases, federal-sector decisions, employer demographic reporting, and the agency’s enforcement planning. The letter also points to changes in Commission leadership and questions about whether the EEOC can act with sufficient independence and consistency.

In addition to sending the hearing request to Chair Walburg, the committee also sent the following requests to Chair Lucas and asked that these items be provided by July 2^nd:

1. “Please provide EEOC’s internal analyses of the legal authority to not conduct the 2026 EEO-1 Data Collection Cycle.
2. Please provide any and all information, documents, and communications, including downloads, copies, and screenshots of any and all messages on any digital communications platform, related to the EEOC’s decision to propose the rule titled ‘Recission of EEO-1, EEO-3, EEO-4, EEO-5, and Reporting Requirements Under Title VII, the ADA, GINA, and the PWFA’.
3. Please provide the following items:
   a. Provide copies of EEOC’s analyses performed to determine whether the current data collection and reporting was overly burdensome on companies subject to the EEO-1 requirements.
   b. Provide copies of any analyses performed to determine whether ending those requirements would have an impact on the demographic make-up of the American workforce.
4. Does the EEOC plan to announce the opening of the 2026 EEO-1 Data Collection Cycle? If not, please provide a rationale. If it does, what will the reporting deadline be for employers to submit data for the 2026 EEO-1 Data Collection Cycle.
5. If the proposed rule to rescind data collection regulations is not finalized until 2027, does the EEOC also plan not to collect the 2026 workplace data for the 2027 EEO-1 Data Collection Cycle, even though employers remain obligated to report it?”

Together, the hearing request and document demands signal continued congressional scrutiny of the EEOC’s direction, particularly around workplace demographic reporting and the agency’s enforcement priorities. Employers should continue monitoring whether the 2026 EEO-1 Data Collection Cycle opens, whether the proposed rescission moves forward, and how any resulting policy shifts may affect compliance obligations, internal reporting practices, and broader equal employment opportunity initiatives.