Page 2 - ARUBA TODAY

A2 UP FRONT
Friday 22 June 2018

Trump seeks federal government overhaul, merger of agencies

By KEN THOMAS and JILL to workplace protections
COLVIN and retirement security.
Associated Press It would also create a sin-
WASHINGTON (AP) — Tak- gle food safety agency
ing aim at the sprawl- under the Agriculture De-
ing federal bureaucracy, partment and move the
President Donald Trump's Supplemental Nutrition
administration released a Assistance Program, also
detailed proposal Thurs- known as SNAP, from the
day to reorganize a num- USDA to Health and Hu-
ber of federal agencies man Services, which would
and merge the Education be renamed the Depart-
and Labor departments. ment of Health and Public
The latest in a long string Welfare and be refocused
of attempts to rein in the more broadly on public as-
government, the plan met sistance programs.
with instant skepticism and OMB did not offer a specific
faced long odds in Con- timeline for which it would
gress. seek the various changes
Trump teed up his budget but said it would work with
director to present high- Congress.
lights of the plan with an Trump is the latest Repub-
acknowledgement that lican president to try to
the topic can make eyes streamline the role of the
glaze over: "Would the me- Education Department,
dia like to hear Mick Mul- which was created during
vaney's report, or would President Jimmy Carter's
you find it extraordinarily President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House, Thursday, June 21, administration. President
boring and therefore not fit 2018, in Washington. From left, Deputy Secretary of Interior David Bernhardt, Secretary of State Ronald Reagan sought
for camera?" Trump teased Mike Pompeo, Trump, and Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis. to eliminate the depart-
to reporters at a Cabinet Associated Press ment during the 1980s but
meeting. backed down amid a lack
Undeterred, Mulvaney Mulvaney told the presi- When the Clinton admin- had pushed back against of support in Congress.
jumped right in, styling dent that a salmon swim- istration sought to "rein- Trump's proposals "to drasti- Randi Weingarten, the
the document as a "drain ming in the ocean is regu- vent" the government in cally gut investments in ed- president of the American
the swamp" plan meant lated by the Commerce the 1990s, Vice President ucation, health care and Federation of Teachers, a
to control Washington's Department, but once it Al Gore famously donned workers — and he should union representing 1.7 mil-
bureaucracy on a grand swims upriver it's overseen safety glasses on David Let- expect the same result for lion teachers and educa-
scale and saying past presi- by the Interior Department. terman's late-night show this latest attempt to make tion professionals, said un-
dents' efforts had failed for And if it uses a fish ladder, as he smashed an ash tray government work worse for der normal circumstances
lack of follow-through. that's governed by the U.S. with a hammer to demon- the people it serves." combining the education
Mulvaney said the plan Army Corps of Engineers. strate cumbersome gov- Sen. Lamar Alexander, R- and labor departments
would modernize the fed- "This is stupid, this makes no ernment regulations. Tenn., the chairman of the might make sense as a way
eral government through sense," Mulvaney said. Paul Light, a professor Health, Education, Labor of bringing together edu-
consolidations and reorga- That brought to mind Presi- of public service at New and Pensions Committee, cation and workforce de-
nizations not seen since the dent Barack Obama's 2011 York University, said vari- which oversees the two velopment programs.
days of President Franklin State of the Union address, ous reorganization plans departments that would "But there is nothing normal
Roosevelt. "We're almost 20 in which he pointed to the have been hashed and be merged under the plan, about this administration,
percent into the 21st cen- different regulatory agen- rehashed for decades but said he was open to chang- so we're extremely skepti-
tury but we're still dealing cies overseeing salmon, have ultimately failed be- es. "I think it's always wise to cal of the motivations here,
with a government that is whether the fish is swim- cause of stubborn resis- look for greater efficiency given how hostile (Educa-
from the early 20th centu- ming in fresh water or salt tance in Congress. in how our government tion Secretary) Betsy DeVos
ry," Mulvaney said. water. "You're not just asking operates and will study the and President Trump have
The budget chief offered "And I hear it gets even members of Congress to re- proposal carefully," he said. been to public education,
several examples under- more complicated once organize agencies, you're The proposal stems from an workers and unions," Wein-
scoring the byzantine na- they're smoked," Obama asking them to reorganize order signed by Trump in garten said.
ture of federal regulations. said at the time. the appropriations process March 2017 calling for a re- Light, meanwhile, said he
and give up their subcom- view of the federal govern- hoped the plan might mark
mittee positions," Light said. ment aimed at identifying the end of fish tales when a
"There's not a single mem- redundancies and stream- president seeks to refit the
ber of Congress ready to lining agencies. government.
give up those authorities." Among the specific pro- "I've heard this salmon story
"You can put these pieces posals outlined is a plan to so many times, it made me
together in many ways," merge the departments of stop eating salmon," Light
Light said. "But that doesn't Education and Labor into a said. "It's been recycled
make them work any bet- single Department of Edu- by one administration af-
ter." cation and the Workforce, ter another. It's the poster
The latest plan was met or DEW. The combined child of this movement. But
with skepticism among agency would oversee I'm telling you every salmon
lawmakers, too. Sen. Pat- programs for students and that is swimming up that
ty Murray, D-Wash., said workers, ranging from edu- river is ultimately going to
members of both parties cation and developing skills Congress."q