President Trump on June 21 proposed the merger of the U.S. Education Department and the U.S. Labor Department into a new Department of Education and the Workforce — a request that Trump administration officials said is an attempt to integrate the missions of the two departments to improve the preparation of students for 21st century careers.
The merger and other recommendations are the result of Executive Order 13781, Comprehensive Plan for Reorganizing the Executive Branch, which President Trump issued in March 2017, and which required several federal government agencies to make recommendations on how to reduce spending and improve “efficiency, effectiveness and accountability of that agency.”
While the administration plans to announce administrative and executive actions it can take in the coming weeks on its overall reorganization plan, the proposal to merge ED with the Labor Department will require congressional approval, where it will likely face significant opposition from Democrats. Approval is unlikely in the next several months.
Margaret Weichert, the deputy director for management at the White House Office for Management and Budget, told reporters in a conference call on June 21 that the “goal isn’t to downgrade any of the major missions” of ED and the Labor Department but to integrate the organizations and “upgrade our thinking.”
She said that the merger is “not an attempt to cut jobs.”
Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., ranking member of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, called the proposed merger a “hastily concocted proposal that uses the false promise of ‘streamlining’ to cut investments in our future.”
“There is no evidence that merging the Departments of Labor and Education would strengthen the performance of these agencies or produce better outcomes for students and workers,” he said.
In a statement, ED Secretary Betsy DeVos urged Congress to approve the plan.
“Artificial barriers between education and workforce programs have existed for far too long,” she said. “This proposal will make the federal government more responsive to the full range of needs faced by American students, workers, and schools. I urge Congress to work with the Administration to make this proposal a reality.”
Click here for a link to the 132-page document outlining a broad restructuring of the federal government. This change would require congressional approval.
Frank Wolfe covers school funding for LRP Publications.
This article was written and published by LPR Publications. Copyright 2018© LRP Publications