In an effort to reduce waste and to make the government more consumer-friendly, on Friday in the East Room of the White House President Barack Obama urged Congress to grant him the ability which most Presidents since Herbert Hoover and including Ronald Reagan have had in the past: to reform, reorganize and consolidate several departments and agencies within the executive branch of the federal government.
“We live in a 21st century economy, but we’ve still got a government organized for the 20th century,” the President stated. “Our economy has fundamentally changed – as has the world – but the government has not. The needs of our citizens have fundamentally changed but their government has not. Instead, it has often grown more complex. Today, I am calling on Congress to reinstate the authority that past presidents have had to streamline and reform the Executive Branch. This is the same sort of authority that every business owner has to make sure that his or her company keeps pace with the times. And let me be clear: I will only use this authority for reforms that result in more efficiency, better service, and a leaner government.”
The plan calls for specific goals to be set and an accountability process to be initiated to insure that changes do reduce costs and reduce unnecessary government agencies.
Since his initial reorganization proposal in his January 2011 State of the Union Address, the President created the Government Reform for Competitiveness and Innovation Initiative in order to determine the best course of action necessary to streamline the government so it works well in the 21st century economy and society.
A core part of the consolidation plan in the early stages is to focus on making it easier for businesses to conduct trade, especially in the area of exporting goods. A key portion of President Obama’s economic policy over his first term in office has been to find ways to increase exports and narrow the trade gaps between the United States and other nations.
The first action requested is to create the Consolidation Authority Act, a measure designed to help small businesses compete by consolidating and reorganizing the six different federal agencies and departments which work with business and trade:U.S. Department of Commerce’s core business and trade functions, the Small Business Administration, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, the Export-Import Bank, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, and the U.S. Trade and Development Agency. A chief goal is to remove redundancies in the system, and to create one agency from the six which, according to the White House’s fact sheet on the subject, “will lead the development and implementation of an integrated, strategic, government-wide trade effort and have a focused capacity to help businesses grow and thrive.”
In addition, another plan is to create a website called BusinessUSA and designed to be a “one-stop” place for businesses of all sizes to gain needed information on exporting goods.
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