Will the Peace Corps (once again!) be Swallowed Up?

President Barack Obama announced Friday that he will ask Congress for the power to merge agencies to streamline government and improve efficiency.

Obama wants to merger the Commerce Department, the Small Business Administration, the Office of the U.S. Trade representative and other independent business agencies into a new, unnamed Cabinet agency to create a more efficient experience for businesses.

“Right now, there are six departments and agencies focused primarily on business and trade in the federal government – from the Commerce Department to the Small Business Administration to the U.S. Trade Representative’s office,” Obama said in remarks from the White House. “In this case, six isn’t better than one.”

The president needs Congress to enact his idea.

What next? The Peace Corps and AID? USIA all one Happy Agency?

STAY TUNED!

3 Comments

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  • “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.” — Wendell Phillips, (1811-1884), abolitionist, orator and columnist for The Liberator, in a speech before the Massachusetts Antislavery Society in 1852.

    Thank you, John, for being vigilant. We all need to watch such trends. It is possible that one agency might be better than six. But when the gloss of similarity gets overly broad, the particulars that energize an organization get squashed. Peace Corps is all about the particulars. So it would seem that broadening that reach and nurturing the particulars of service serves both the Peace Corps and the “national interests” more effectively than a course that emphasizes compression and reduction.

    Aloha,

    Jane

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