Obama seeks power to merge agencies
Our president is actually trying to grant Tea Party wants but my guess is that they will turn on him over this and bill his attempt to shrink government bureaucracy as a power grab.
President Barack Obama will ask Congress on Friday for greater power to shrink the federal government, and his first idea is merging six sprawling trade and commerce agencies whose overlapping programs can be baffling to businesses, a senior administration official told The Associated Press.
Obama will call on Congress to give him a type of reorganizational power last held by a president when Ronald Reagan was in office. The Obama version would be a so-called consolidation authority allowing him to propose mergers that promise to save money and help consumers. The deal would entitle him to an up-or-down vote from Congress in 90 days.
It would be up to lawmakers, therefore, to first grant Obama this fast-track authority and then decide whether to approve any of his specific ideas.
Obama was expected to announce his plans Friday. The official confirmed the details to the AP on condition of anonymity ahead of the president’s event.