U.S. Bureau officials said Friday they are ready to start examining changes that would combine race and ethnicity questions and add a Middle Eastern and North African category to the 2030 census questionnaire, but they have to wait for another federal office to start the conversation.
That office is the White House Office of Management and Budget, which sets the definitions on race and ethnic background for all federal agencies. The Census Bureau has been using Office of Management and Budget standards which were set in 1997.
