Trump Calls for Combining Education, Labor Departments in Revamp

OMB Director Mick Mulvaney is championing the reorganization. (Photo: AP)

President Donald Trump proposed a reorganization of the federal government, aiming to combine the Education and Labor Departments and shift control of U.S. food aid programs away from the Agriculture Department.

The plan also calls for an overhaul of the U.S. Postal Service, including the possible privatization of mail delivery. Any reorganization would require congressional approval, an uphill challenge in an election year.

“Having to work through multiple federal agencies to conduct business or solve simple problems is not an efficient or effective use of taxpayer resources,” the Office of Management and Budget said Thursday in a statement.

The plan would create the Department of Education and the Workforce, combining the Education and Labor Departments and also shift governance of federal food aid programs from the Agriculture Department to the Health and Human Services Department.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, would be moved from the Agriculture Department to HHS, rebranding the agency as “Department of Health and Public Welfare.”

As with many of Trump’s proposals, this one is likely to receive a cold reception in Congress and die without becoming law.