The White House said on Friday (October 24) that the U.S. government will likely not release October inflation data due to the ongoing government shutdown.

The White House posted on Platform X that funding disruptions have prevented investigators from conducting field work, "depriving us of critical data." The White House said this would be a "first in history" for not releasing the data.

White House press secretary Carolyn Levitt wrote in a separate post: "The Democrats' choice to continue the government shutdown could result in the omission of the October inflation report, which would cause chaos for businesses, markets, households, and the Federal Reserve."

A spokesperson for the BLS, which compiles the monthly Consumer Price Index report, said all active data collection activities have been suspended during the government shutdown.

"Once funding is restored, the BLS will resume normal operations and will announce any changes to the BLS press release schedule," said spokesperson Stacey Standish.

A Labor Department official noted that this is consistent with the BLS's handling of past government funding disruptions, saying the suspension of data collection will delay the release of the October CPI report. The data were originally scheduled for release on November 13.

The Labor Department official said that while most BLS operations have been suspended since the government shutdown began on October 1, the agency called in staff this month to compile the September inflation report so that the Social Security Administration can calculate the annual cost-of-living adjustment for social security benefits, as required by law.

The U.S. government shutdown is now in its fourth week. Senate Democrats have repeatedly blocked a temporary spending bill, saying they cannot support it without extending Medicare subsidies.

Funding shortages have forced the Trump administration to furlough a large number of federal employees, including those at key agencies.

The BLS reported on Friday that underlying inflation in September rose at its slowest pace in three months, putting the Federal Reserve on track to cut interest rates at its policy meeting next week.