WASHINGTON, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- The White House has sent paperwork to the Senate to withdraw the nomination of E. J. Antoni as head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), local media reported on Tuesday.
U.S. President Donald Trump nominated Antoni in mid-August for the BLS role after firing former BLS commissioner Erika McEntarfer, accusing her of manipulating the bureau's figures.
Antoni currently serves as chief economist at the Heritage Foundation and has been a critic of the BLS. His nomination sparked controversy and raised concern among economists about the quality of BLS data, which are widely used by economists, investors, business leaders, policymakers and consumers.
The withdrawal came amid a looming U.S. government shutdown after midnight Tuesday due to Congress's failure to pass a funding bill. This would delay the release of the September jobs numbers due out on Friday. ■