Obama’s plan for reorganizing agencies hits skepticism from lawmakers(1)
By Roger Runningen and James Rowley
President Barack Obama’s request for authority to streamline U.S. executive agencies was greeted with skepticism from congressional Republicans while Democrats questioned elements of his reorganization plan.
The president said yesterday he wants to be able to undertake any consolidation that would save money and shrink government, subject to a “fast-track” vote of approval or disapproval by Congress in 90 days.
He said his first action would be replacing the Commerce Department with a yet unnamed agency that folds in the U.S. Trade Representative, the Export-Import Bank, the Overseas Private Investment Corp., the Trade and Development Agency and the Small Business Administration.
“The government we have is not the government that we need,” Obama said yesterday at the White House. “Our economy has fundamentally changed -- as has the world -- but our government, our agencies, have not.”
Obama’s proposal would require action from Congress, where Republicans have stalled much of his agenda in the past year. It’s also coming as both parties are gearing up for November’s elections that will decide control of the White House, the Senate and the House of representatives.
Susan Schwab, who was U.S. Trade Representative under President George W. Bush, said Obama will have a tough time getting cooperation from lawmakers.
“It’s obviously hard to imagine a president whose campaign is focusing on running against Congress then going to get fast- track legislation from Congress,” Schwab said in an interview.
‘Worth Exploring’
Brendan Buck, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, an Ohio Republican, said eliminating duplication and making government more business friendly “is always an idea worth exploring.”
Still, he said, “Given the president’s record of growing government, we’re interested to learn whether this proposal represents actual relief for American businesses or just the appearance of it.”
Several key Democrats reacted cautiously, saying they wanted to see the details. They also expressed concern over Obama’s request for an up-or-down vote on any reorganization plan without giving lawmakers the opportunity to make changes.
Michigan Representative Sander Levin, the senior Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee, said Congress should consider Obama’s request.
Role for Congress
“As we do so, we must ensure a meaningful role for Congress on all reorganization proposals at every juncture,” Levin said in an e-mailed statement.
Obama’s proposal to move the U.S. Trade Representative’s office into a new department drew bipartisan objections from the chairmen of the committees that oversee trade policy.
“Taking USTR, one of the most efficient agencies that is a model of how government can and should work, and making it just another corner of a new bureaucratic behemoth would hurt American exports and hinder American job creation,” Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, a Democrat, and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp, a Republican, said in a joint statement.
