Obama Wants Power to Merge 6 Trade Agencies

President Obama will today announce a plan to mash together six federal agencies—including the Commerce Department—in an effort to simplify the government's sprawling regulatory bureaucracy. Obama can't actually make the move without Congressional approval, however, so he intends to ask Congress for a special reorganizational power—last held by Ronald Reagan—that would allow him to propose mergers and guarantee him an up-or-down vote on each merger from Congress within 90 days. The Wall Street Journal reports that some lawmakers may be wary of granting the Obama this fast-track authority, as they wouldn't be permitted to amend any of his proposals.

The plan would merge Commerce with the Small Business Administration, the Office of the US Trade Representative, the Export-Import Bank, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, and the Trade and Development Agency. Obama first proposed this reorganization almost a year ago, but got hung up on various obstacles and details. Not least among those: The still unresolved question of what to do with the Census Bureau and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, current Commerce entities unrelated to trade or business. (More Department of Commerce stories.)