White House considers consolidation
Education, Labor departments would combine under proposal
WASHINGTON — Taking aim at the sprawling federal bureaucracy, President Donald Trump’s administration released a detailed proposal Thursday to reorganize a number of federal agencies and merge the Education and Labor departments.
The latest in a long string of attempts to rein in the government, the plan met with instant skepticism and faced long odds in Congress.
Trump teed up his budget director to present highlights of the plan with an acknowledgement that the topic can make eyes glaze over: “Would the media like to hear Mick Mulvaney’s report, or would you find it extraordinarily boring and therefore not fit for camera?” Trump teased to reporters at a Cabinet meeting.
Undeterred, Mulvaney jumped right in, styling the document as a “drain the swamp” plan meant to control Washington’s bureaucracy on a grand scale and saying past presidents’ efforts had failed for lack of follow-through.
Mulvaney said the plan would modernize the federal government through consolidations and reorganizations not seen since the days of President Franklin Roosevelt. “We’re almost 20 percent into the 21st century, but we’re still dealing with a government that is from the early 20th century,” Mulvaney said.
Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-tenn., the chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which oversees the two departments that would be merged under the plan, said he was open to changes. “I think it’s always wise to look for greater efficiency in how our government operates and will study the proposal carefully.”
The proposal stems from an order signed by Trump in March 2017 calling for a review of the federal government aimed at identifying redundancies and streamlining agencies.