Trump plans office to bring business ideas to government
PRESIDENT DONALD Trump is establishing a new White House office, run by his son-in-law, that will seek to overhaul government functions using ideas from the business sector.
White House spokesman Sean Spicer said yesterday that Trump will announce the White House Office of American Innovation. He said the office will “apply the president’s ahead-of-schedule-and-under-budget mentality” to the government.
The innovation office will be led by Jared Kushner, a senior adviser to Trump, and will report directly to the president. Spicer said early priorities for the office will be modernising technology in the federal government and overhauling Veterans Affairs.
Among those working on the effort are National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn; Dina Powell, senior counsellor to the president for economic initiatives and deputy national security adviser; Chris Liddell, assistant to the president for strategic initiatives; and Reed Cordish, assistant to the president for intragovernmental and technology initiatives. All have extensive business experience.
Trump is readying to announce the new office at a low point in his young administration, days after the Republican bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act,
also known as ‘Obamacare’. imploded in the House of Representatives, revealing deep divides within GOP and fraying tensions at the White House.
This effort has been developing since shortly after the
inauguration, said a senior administration official, who requested anonymity to discuss the office before the announcement. The group has been meeting since then and started talking to CEOs from
various sectors about ways to make changes to federal programmes. Areas they hope to tackle include overhauling Veterans’ Affairs, improving workforce development and targeting opioid addiction.
Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, who is married to Kushner and has a West Wing office but no official job, will get involved on issues she is focused on, such as workforce development.