President Elevates SBA Head to Cabinet, Seeks Agency Consolidation

President Obama recently announced his intention to streamline the six federal departments and agencies focused on business and trade into a single department. Doing so would require Congress to grant the president authority to reorganize the Executive branch and then submit the proposal to Congress as an up or down vote. The new department would help coordinate federal trade policy, and provide a comprehensive source for business support. As an indication of the president's commitment to improving federal support for small businesses, he also announced that he would promote the Small Business Administration (SBA) to a cabinet-level agency. The consolidation would include the core business and trade functions of the Department of Commerce, the Small Business Administration, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, the Export-Import Bank, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation and the U.S. Trade and Development Agency. In his announcement, President Obama said that the move would allow entrepreneurs to have a single office, website and phone number to turn to through all stages of their business' development. The White House also expects to reduce spending on business-related functions by eliminating overlap between these agencies' responsibilities. The proposed Consolidation Authority Act would provide the White House with the authority to begin the reorganization. The act would allow the president to restructure agencies, with the stipulation that the changes must reduce the total number of agencies or decrease government spending. The president announced that the SBA Administrator Karen Mills would join his cabinet to represent small business interests in policy coordination and throughout the restructuring process. Under the current plan, SBA would no longer be a part of the cabinet once the reorganization is complete, according to the Wall Street Journal. Also, a new website, Business USA, will be unveiled in the next few weeks as a one-stop shop for small business and exporters while the reorganization is underway. Read more about the planned reorganization at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/01/13/government-reorga….