Trump Team Moves Closer to Gutting Some Federal Agencies

[Weatherman2020]

I hope they use a chainsaw, and not a scalpel.


President Donald Trump’s federal hiring freeze ends on Wednesday in order to move into the next phase of a proposed reorganization of agencies headquartered in Washington and their satellite operations throughout the country.

Starting now, some federal agencies are likely to go on a hiring spree, like the Pentagon, while others will be forced to slash their workforces, like the Environmental Protection Agency. Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney told reporters Tuesday afternoon the freeze is being lifted in favor of a more strategic, surgical approach that will enable the White House to oversee a streamlining of the functions of government.

The process, though, is far from over.

Under a series of executive actions Trump has signed, agencies must develop plans by the end of June to maximize employee performance. By the end of the following quarter, agencies have to submit plans describing how they intend to reform their operations.

And at a higher level, Mulvaney’s office will map out how to restructure the executive branch so that it’s directed by its functions. As an example, he cited 43 workforce training programs across 13 agencies that could be centralized. He added that multiple offices across multiple agencies handle trade, and pressed that it should be more centralized, as well.

The broader suggestion to structure around functions and issues came from a meeting of CEOs at the White House on Tuesday morning; Mulvaney said the administration is seeking input from business leaders, academics, and civilians alike.

Trump Team Moves Closer to Gutting Some Federal Agencies

 

[longknife]

OMB’s Head Mulvaney’s Plan to Reform the Government

One of the president’s campaign promises being taken seriously. I didn’t read the 14-page memorandum/directive, https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/whitehouse.gov/files/omb/memoranda/2017/M-17-22.pdf, but the summary provided in the article is something we’ve needed and pined for for many years. Here’s a brief summary:

The core of the process is that the president is requiring federal agencies to prepare Agency Reform Plans by this September, with draft plans due June 30. Agencies must come up with downsizing “proposals in four categories: eliminate activities, restructure or merge, improve organizational efficiency and effectiveness, and workforce management.” Agencies “should focus on fundamental scoping questions (i.e. analyzing whether activities should or should not be performed by the agency).”

Some of the factors that agencies should consider when doing their “fundamental scoping” are whether activities are nonessential, whether they violate federalism, and whether they would flunk a cost-benefit test. Agencies should propose eliminating activities that do not pass muster on these and other criteria.

Just how many agencies are redundant or have simply outlived their original fiat?

Full story @ Mulvaney’s Plan to Reform the Government