Last June, the White House issued a set of proposals to reform and reorganize government functions in dozens of executive branch agencies. The proposals range from cosmetic (e.g., renaming the Department of Health and Human Services) to substantial (e.g., combining the Departments of Labor and Education) with significant implications for domestic and foreign policy, as well as for national security.
A memorandum prepared by the Congressional Research Service provides brief summaries and analyses of the most important proposals, assessing their feasibility and describing the uncertainties involved. See Trump Administration Reform and Reorganization Plan: Discussion of 35 “Government-Wide” Proposals, CRS memorandum, July 25, 2018.
New and updated reports issued by the Congressional Research Service last week include the following.
Air Force B-21 Raider Long Range Strike Bomber, updated October 12, 2018
Religious Intolerence [sic] in Indonesia, CRS In Focus, October 10, 2018
Post-election Issues in Bosnia and Herzegovina, CRS Insight, October 11, 2018
Hurricane Michael: Brief Overview of FEMA Programs and Resources, CRS Insight, updated October 11, 2018
Temporary Protected Status: Overview and Current Issues, updated October 10, 2018
Vehicle Fuel Economy and Greenhouse Gas Standards, CRS In Focus, updated October 11, 2018
Expiration of the 2014 Farm Bill, October 11, 2018
House Passes Bill to Amend the Federal “Crime of Violence” Definition, CRS Legal Sidebar, October 11, 2018
Deference and its Discontents: Will the Supreme Court Overrule Chevron?, CRS Legal Sidebar, October 11, 2018
This rule gives agencies significantly more authority over certain career policy roles. Whether that authority improves accountability or creates new risks depends almost entirely on how agencies interrupt and apply it.
Our environmental system was built for 1970s-era pollution control, but today it needs stable, integrated, multi-level governance that can make tradeoffs, share and use evidence, and deliver infrastructure while demonstrating that improved trust and participation are essential to future progress.
Durable and legitimate climate action requires a government capable of clearly weighting, explaining, and managing cost tradeoffs to the widest away of audiences, which in turn requires strong technocratic competency.
FAS is launching the Center for Regulatory Ingenuity (CRI) to build a new, transpartisan vision of government that works – that has the capacity to achieve ambitious goals while adeptly responding to people’s basic needs.