Streamline Government

When Obama introduced his economic team, the duplication in agency names made me suspect there were redundancies in the their functions. To streamline government, any overlap of function should be eliminated to avoid duplication of effort. Of course, reform would depend on the functions of each agency, something I knew little about. Therefore, research was needed to determine if my suspicions are warranted. The information below came directly from agency Web pages.

The National Economic Council (NEC), established in 1993 within the Office of Policy Development (part of the Executive Office of the President) was created to advise the President on matters related to U.S. and global economic policy. The NEC has four principal functions: coordinate policy-making for domestic and international economic issues, coordinate economic policy advice for the President, ensure that policy decisions and programs are consistent with the President's economic goals, and monitor implementation of the President's economic policy agenda. The purview of the NEC extends to policy matters affecting the various sectors of the nation's economy as well as the overall strength of the U.S. and global macro-economies. Therefore, the membership of the NEC comprises numerous department and agency heads within the administration, whose policy jurisdictions impact the nation's economy. The NEC Director works in conjunction with these officials to coordinate and implement a variety of economic policy issues including: agriculture, commerce, energy, financial markets, fiscal policy, health care, labor, and Social Security and the President's economic policy objectives.

The Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) was established by the Employment Act of 1946 to provide the President with objective economic analysis and advice on the development and implementation of a wide range of domestic and international economic policy issues. The CEA has three members appointed by the President by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. The President designates one of the members as Chairman. CEA's duties and functions include: (1) to assist and advise the President in the preparation of the Economic Report; (2) to gather timely and authoritative information concerning economic developments and economic trends, both current and prospective, (3) to analyze and interpret such information for the purpose of determining whether such developments and trends are interfering, or are likely to interfere, with the achievement of such policy, (4) to compile and submit to the President studies relating to such developments and trends; 5) to appraise the various programs and activities of the Federal Government for the purpose of determining the extent to which such programs and activities are contributing, and the extent to which they are not contributing, to the achievement of such policy, and to make recommendations to the President with respect thereto; and (6) to develop and recommend to the President national economic policies that foster and promote free competitive enterprise, that avoid economic fluctuations or to diminish the effects thereof, and that maintain employment, production, and purchasing power; and (7) to make and furnish such studies, reports thereon, and recommendations with respect to matters of Federal economic policy and legislation as the President may request.

The Domestic Policy Council (DPC), headed by the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy, coordinates the domestic policy-making process in the White House and offers policy advice to the President. The DPC also works to ensure that domestic policy initiatives are coordinated and consistent throughout federal agencies. Finally, the DPC monitors the implementation of domestic policy, and represents the President's priorities to other branches of government. Although the name has changed throughout the years, a domestic policy staff has existed in the White House since the 1960s until a 1970 executive order created the 'Office of Policy Development,' a larger White House office that currently oversees the National Economic Council and the Domestic Policy Council. The "Domestic Policy Council," as it is known today, was created by Executive Order in 1993.

Currently, the Domestic Policy Council oversees major domestic policy areas such as education, health, housing, welfare, justice, federalism, transportation, environment, labor and veteran's affairs. The Office of National AIDS Policy (ONAP), the Office of National Drug Control Policy(ONDCP), USA Freedon Corps (USAFC), the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) and the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives (OFBCI) are also affiliated with the Domestic Policy Council. The Domestic Policy Council’s formal membership includes cabinet secretaries and administrators of federal agencies that affect the issues addressed by the DPC.

Obviously, there's a lot of overlap in two of the White House agencies, but how about the Department of the Treasury? The Treasury Department is the only cabinet level agency set forth in the Constitution. The Department of the Treasury's mission highlights its role as the steward of U.S. economic and financial systems, and as an influential participant in the global economy. The Department is responsible for promoting economic prosperity and ensuring the financial security of the United States and for a wide range of activities such as advising the President on economic and financial issues, encouraging sustainable economic growth, and fostering improved governance in financial institutions. The basic functions of the Department of the Treasury include: managing Federal finances; collecting taxes, duties and monies paid to and due to the U.S. and paying all bills of the U.S.; currency and coinage; managing Government accounts and the public debt; supervising national banks and thrift institutions; advising on domestic and international financial, monetary, economic, trade and tax policy; enforcing Federal finance and tax laws and investigating and prosecuting tax evaders, counterfeiters, and forgers. The Treasury also works with other federal agencies, foreign governments, and international financial institutions to encourage global economic growth, raise standards of living, and to the extent possible, predict and prevent economic and financial crises. It enhances national security by implementing economic sanctions against foreign threats to the U.S., identifying and targeting the financial support networks of national security threats, and improving the safeguards of our financial systems. The Department of the Treasury is organized into two major components: Departmental offices and the operating bureaus. The former are primarily responsible for the formulation of policy and management of the Department as a whole, while the operating bureaus carry out the specific operations assigned to the Department. The bureaus make up 98% of the Treasury work force. While there doesn't appear to be much overlap of the Treasury's operating bureaus with the White House economic policy councils, the so-called departmental offices show potential for overlap, duplication, and redundancy.

Want to change the way business is done in Washington? Does the description of the roles of these three agency groups overwhelm you? Do you get a sense of hard it is to get anything done in Washington and why back-channel efforts are necessary to cut through the bureaucracies? Change is worth it, if all we achieve is change itself. We should combine the Treasury's departmental offices and the White House "advisers" into one organization with streamlined functions, duties and responsibilities. The White House policy councils have received plenty of attention, but not necessarily for the purpose of reforming them into a more effective tools for policy formulation. In sum, I believe we'd be better off with fewer cooks in the economic kitchen, but I'm afraid that to make a change would require a lengthy study requiring the creation of yet another agency concerned with the effective coordination of economic policy-making.