On Friday, Jan 13, 2012, President Obama announced he will ask Congress for the power to merge six federal trade and commerce agencies, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The WSJ report said Obama will ask Congress for “reorganizational” power. The last president to have this power was Ronald Reagan.
The new power would allow the president to propose mergers in order to save money and make the government work more efficiently, according to the report.
The plan would allow Obama to propose mergers that would be “guaranteed an up-or-down vote from Congress within 90 days,” the report said.
The six agencies Obama wants to consolidate include the Commerce Department‘s core business and trade functions, the Small Business Administration, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, the Export-Import Bank, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation and the Trade and Development Agency.
The report cited a White House official who said the merger would save taxpayers around $3 billion over the next decade by eliminating duplicate overhead costs.
In addition, between 1,000 and 2,000 jobs would be eliminated through attrition, according to the WSJ.
