The Commission on Evidence-Based Policymaking, a bipartisan commission created by Congress to examine how to increase the availability and use of data in order to build evidence and inform government program design while protecting the confidentiality of this data, has requested comments on how data, research, and evaluation are currently used to build evidence and continuously improve public programs and policies. Easy access to useable data plays a crucial role in informed-policymaking, and it is encouraging to see the Commission for Evidence-Based Policymaking working to increase the accessibility and usability of government data for this purpose. Overall, adhering to the principle that government data should be open and machine-readable by default would substantially improve the quantity and quality of data available for evidence-based policymaking.
