President Trump will issue a new memorandum on Monday that requires every executive agency to conduct an internal review of how their funding is being abused and what changes they can pursue to operate more efficiently.
“This order requires a thorough examination of every executive department and agency, to see where money is being wasted, how services can be improved, and whether programs are truly serving American citizens,” a White House official told the Washington Examiner.
The president’s latest executive order marks “the beginning of the long-overdue reorganization of our federal departments and agencies, and another massive step toward making the federal government efficient, effective, and accountable to the people,” the official said.
The move to increase competence and accountability across the executive branch comes the same week as the Trump administration is expected to release its federal budget, which is set to include deep budget cuts to several domestic programs and agencies. Some federal officials have said they fear the president’s budget will lead to massive layoffs at the State Department and Environmental Protection Agency, among other departments.
Trump has long argued for a significant reduction in the size of the federal workforce and the elimination of wasteful spending at the executive level, but the president is unlikely to set a “target” figure for the amount of needless spending he hopes each agency will do away with.
“I don’t know that [Office of Management and Budget] Director [Mick] Mulvaney has a target per se,” White House press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters on Monday. “There is no set number that we’re driving down to as we review government.”
