Close or Consolidate Federal Offices

Author: Preston Brashers, Research Fellow

Affordability 101 · Chapter 10: Accountability and Oversight

Plymouth Institute for Free Enterprise

Topline

Congress should close and consolidate federal offices or reduce or eliminate their appropriations to limit questionable federal functions.

Background

The USA.gov directory lists more than 400 government departments, agencies, and other federally supported organizations. With a $40 trillion national debt, Congress must scrutinize where federal taxpayer dollars are going. Some agency functions are clearly outside the scope of the federal powers enumerated in the U.S. Constitution. The Departments of Commerce, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, and Labor were established relatively late in the nation’s history and should be streamlined or consolidated.

Action Items (Congress and the Administration)

• Eliminate or defund inappropriate or unneeded functions in the executive branch and independent agencies. Potential areas include:

Politicized or Identity-Based, e.g., Administration for Native Americans; Minority Business Development Agency; Office of Minority Health; The Women’s Bureau; U.S. Commission on Civil Rights; Woodrow Wilson International Center.

Non-Essential Grantmaking, Scholarship and Research, e.g., The African Development Foundation; Institute of Museum and Library Services; Inter-American Foundation; Office of Policy Development and Research; Rural Business Cooperative Service; Stennis Center; The Udall Foundation; U.S. Institute of Peace.

Unaccountable Regulators, e.g., Consumer Financial Protection Bureau; Chemical Safety Board; Council on Environmental Quality; Federal Labor Relations Authority.

Obsolete and Duplicative Informational Activities, e.g., Office of Scientific and Technical Information; FEDLINK; Center for Parent Information and Resources.

Better Suited for State/Private Efforts, e.g., AmeriCorps; Interagency Council on Homelessness; Job Corps; Legal Services Corporation; Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education; Office of Elementary and Secondary Education; Office of Postsecondary Education; regional development offices; Rural Development.

Arts and Culture Better Supported Privately, e.g., Botanic Garden; Commission of Fine Arts; Kennedy Center; National Endowment for the Arts; National Endowment for the Humanities; National Gallery of Art; Smithsonian Institution.

How It Would Make Life More Affordable

• It could reduce taxpayer obligations by tens of billions of dollars annually.
• It would enhance productivity by reducing the federal bureaucracy and moving more people and resources into the private, productive economy.

Bottomline

Congress should ensure the government sticks to core functions.

This memo is part of Affordability 101, Advancing American Freedom’s playbook of 101 policy solutions to make life more affordable.

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