It is widely accepted that the Federal Government is just too damn big to be effective. It is full of duplicative functions with tons of needless overhead that does not produce tangible value to the American people.
There are just too many departments that end up being just “pass throughs” for dispersing taxpayer dollars. The classic example was the Department of Housing and Urban Development being used to disperse funds through the Obama era Stimulus Plan for Iowa pork farmers. It makes no sense.
A Wellman Administration would push for legislation in Congress to reduce the number of departments from 16 down to nine. Here’s how this would look.
- The Department of Health and Human Services loses the Health aspect of the department as it is spun off to be its own department. The new Department of Human Services gains the functional abilities of the Departments of Education, Housing and Urban Development, Commerce (minus NOAA, NASA), Labor, and non-medical veterans support. Safety agencies will also be rolled under this new department.
- Merge Departments of Interior and Agriculture with Agriculture shifting the Food Stamp/SNAP program to a new Department of Human Services. Bureau of Indian Affairs is moved to the Department of State
- The departments Energy, Transportation, and the technical and technology oriented areas of Commerce will form a new Department of Energy, Transportation and Technology.
I have added organizational charts for what this could look like. Of course, this would have to be done in concert with congressional legislation in order to make these changes law.
New Department of Health
This new department, as indicated by the name is a fusion of Energy, Transportation, and the different technologically focused agencies of the Department of Commerce.
