Federal Daily News
Obama formalizes request for reorganization authority
President Obama on Feb. 16 sent Congress a legislative proposal asking lawmakers to grant him streamlined authority to reorganize and consolidate federal agencies.
The president had indicated last month that he would seek the authority. The legislation submitted this week, dubbed the Reforming and Consolidating Government Act, formalizes his request. No president has had fast-track reorganization authority since the 1980s, when lawmakers allowed the authority to expire during the Reagan administration.
Office of Management and Budget acting Director Jeffrey Zients, who is leading the effort, laid out the basic details of the proposed legislation in a Feb. 16 letter to House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio).
According to the letter, the new authority would retain procedures contained in the earlier, expired authority. It would include a provision to allow Congress to approve or deny reorganization plans on an expedited basis through an up or down vote, and would allow the president to make amendments to plans pending in committee. The authority would come up for reauthorization by Congress every two years
A White House press statement noted the addition of one new requirement — that a consolidation or reorganization effort would be permitted to go forward only “if the proposed reorganization reduced the overall number of agencies or achieved cost savings.”
Once the authority is in place, Zients wrote, the administration would launch its first reorganization effort—a previously announced plan to consolidate the core functions of six federal departments and agencies that focus on business and trade, including the Commerce Department and the Small Business Administration.
“There is too much duplication and fragmentation that make it difficult for firms, and especially small businesses, to get the assistance they need,” the Zients letter said. “Now is the time to consolidate and reorganize these agencies and several other related programs into one department with one website, one phone number, and one mission — helping American businesses succeed.”