The White House released a plan on June 21 to reorganize the federal government that, if enacted, would fundamentally transform the structure of executive agencies tasked with managing education, labor, food, and the economy. Though it should by no means be considered a replacement for other reforms, this plan would save tax dollars by streamlining the ineffective system we currently have.
Under the proposal, the Department of Education and Department of Labor would be merged together into the Department of Education and the Workforce, or DEW. Consolidating the two departments would not only eliminate unnecessary administrative structures, but also allow the agency to develop an education-to-career pipeline through an integrated system to help students and workers thrive in the 21st century. With the increasing emphasis on workforce training in modern society, it makes perfect sense to combine the two departments since both of them are getting people ready for the workforce.
Workforce development programs that are long overdue for a reform would also be consolidated as part of the merger. According to a report by the Office of Management and Budget, more than 40 workforce development programs in 15 agencies are managed by the federal government right now. The fragmented system prevents the federal government from meeting the overlapping needs of students and workers in a coordinated way. President Trump’s plan would reduce administrative costs by cutting the number of programs to only 16 workforce development programs in seven agencies.
Besides creating the DEW, the proposal would move several nutrition assistance programs currently in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to the Department of Health and Human Services, and change the name of HHS to the Department of Health and Public Welfare, or DHPW.
Both the USDA and HHS are in charge of many major federal public assistance programs. However, the same programs are often administered under a single agency at state and local levels. As a result, state and local offices have to comply with one set of rules from the USDA and a different set of rules from HHS when administering relevant services, spending a lot of time and resources on unnecessary burdens.
The plan also includes the creation of a permanent Council on Public Assistance hosted in the DHPW that would have the authority to oversee public benefit programs, most notably SNAP and Medicaid. The Council would have the power to set work requirements for all welfare programs, encouraging people to move from welfare to work.
Trump’s plan would establish a Bureau of Economic Growth in the Department of Commerce and consolidate several economic development programs into the new bureau as well. The existing structure to support entrepreneurs is highly fragmented, resulting in overlap of government programs and waste of taxpayers dollars.
A 2012 report by the Government Accountability Office provides a good example of how redundant the current system is. The report evaluated 52 economic development programs with an estimated $2 billion in funds at the Department of Agriculture, Commerce, Housing and Urban Development and the Small Business Administration. GAO found that every one of the programs overlaps with at least one other program. The White House noted that many of these programs failed to demonstrate they are effective in improving economic growth. If a program is not helping the people it is supposed to help, it should not continue costing taxpayers dollars.
Centralizing these development programs in one bureau would save taxpayers money by reducing spending in programs with similar objectives and ensuring the effectiveness of these programs in advancing economic growth. The streamlined bureau would also increase transparency in government spending by standardizing requirements on eligibility and participation for relevant programs.
Of course, the federal bureaucracy needs more than just internal reorganizations to function more efficiently and use taxpayer dollars more effectively. But streamlining the executive branch would be a positive step for taxpayers who rely on a well-functioning federal government.
Shiyi Zhang is a policy and government affairs intern with the National Taxpayers Union.
