Ohio Gov. John Kasich unveiled a plan to shutter the Commerce Department on Monday.
The governor’s plan to close the department, which he describes as a “Franken-agency,” is all part of the “Kasich Action Plan” he has touted on the campaign trail.
“Commerce is a case study in Washington dysfunction,” Kasich said in a statement. “It’s like a basement that politicians keep stuffing pet projects into and it never gets cleaned out. As a result, needed efforts suffer and costs and efficiency are ignored. I will break it up, put the pieces we need in the right places, send other pieces back to the states and simply stop doing those things that aren’t needed. Americans would save money and it would send a huge signal to Washington that business as usual is over.
“My plan for Commerce is a template I would take to all federal agencies — shrink, consolidate, shut down and send responsibilities back to us in our states and communities.”
The governor’s plan would consolidate national resource agencies within the Department of the Interior, move trade promotion and monitoring responsibilities to the State Department, shift economic development grant programs to the Department of Housing and Urban Development and combine the Census Bureau with the Bureau of Labor Statistics in the Labor Department.
Savings resulting from these changes and others that the governor wants made to the components of the Commerce Department “would vary” based upon exactly where specific offices are moved, according to the governor’s campaign.
Kasich ranks ninth in the Washington Examiner‘s most recent GOP presidential power rankings issued after last week’s debate. He also finishes ninth in RealClearPolitics’ average of national polls.
