via @everycrsreport & @saftergood
related: White House Produces No Evidence It Considered Public Input on Reorganizing Government - via Government Executive (ht beSpacific) [scroll to end for more related docs]
On June 21, 2018, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued Delivering Government Solutions in the 21st Century: Reform Plan and Reorganization Recommendations (the Reform Plan). The Reform Plan followed from Executive Order 13781, "Comprehensive Plan for Reorganizing the Executive Branch," issued by President Donald J. Trump on March 13, 2017, and an OMB memorandum, M-17-22, "Comprehensive Plan for Reforming the Federal Government and Reducing the Federal Civilian Workforce," issued on April 12, 2017. Federal agencies were required to submit initial agency reform plans to OMB in June 2017, work with OMB to refine these plans, and submit finalized versions to OMB concurrent with their FY2019 budget requests. These proposals, together with analysis presented in the President's Management Agenda, formed the basis of the Reform Plan...
The Reform Plan notes that "some of the recommendations identified in this volume can be achieved via Executive administrative action, [while] more significant changes will require legislative action as well." The CRS Report Executive Branch Reorganization discusses the authorities that have been used to reorganize the executive branch.
The 32 cross-agency proposals include, for example, those that would
merge the Departments of Education and Labor;
move certain nutrition assistance programs from the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to the Department of Health and Human Services;
move the Army Corps of Engineers Civil Works from the Department of Defense (DOD) to the Department of Transportation and the Department of the Interior (DOI);
transfer the food safety functions of the Food and Drug Administration and those of USDA to a single agency within USDA;
merge the National Marine Fisheries Service, which is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration at the Department of Commerce (DOC), with the Fish and Wildlife Service at DOI;
combine certain development finance tools, including those of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation and the Development Credit Authority of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), into a newly established Development Finance Institution;
comprehensively reorganize the headquarters bureaus and independent offices of USAID;
move the policymaking functions of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to the Executive Office of the President;
reorganize the U.S. Census Bureau, the Bureau of Economic Analysis, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics under the Under Secretary of Commerce for Economic Affairs;
sell the transmission assets owned and operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority and the power marketing administrations within the Department of Energy;
restructure the U.S. Postal Service to improve sustainability or prepare it to be converted to a private corporation;
consolidate the management of graduate research fellowships of smaller federal agencies in the National Science Foundation;
transition the business and recordkeeping practices of federal agencies to electronic government; and
transfer the National Background Investigations Bureau from OPM to DOD.
Docs Cited:
Delivering Government Solutions in the 21st Century: Reform Plan and Reorganization Recommendations (the Reform Plan).
Executive Order 13781: "Comprehensive Plan for Reorganizing the Executive Branch"
OMB memorandum, M-17-22: "Comprehensive Plan for Reforming the Federal Government and Reducing the Federal Civilian Workforce"
President's Management Agenda
White House: President Donald J. Trump Is Reforming the Federal Government, Making it More Efficient, Effective, and Accountable
CRS: The Trump Administration’s Reform Plan and Reorganization Recommendations
CRS: Executive Branch Reorganization
More:
CRS: Executive Branch Reorganization Initiatives During the 112th Congress: A Brief Overview (2011)
CRS: Executive Branch Reorganization and Management Initiatives: A Brief Overview (2008)
CRS: Reorganizing the Executive Branch in the 20th Century: Landmark Commissions (2002)
CRS: Executive Branch Reorganization: An Overview (1978)
