Sen. Carper Statement on President Obama’s Proposal to Streamline Federal Government by Merging Several Trade and Commerce Offices

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Tom Carper (D-Del.), chair of the Senate Federal Financial Management Subcommittee, released the following statement regarding President Obama’s decision to streamline the federal government and reduce operating costs by merging several trade and commerce offices:

“As chair of the Federal Financial Management subcommittee I’ve been focused on identifying and implementing reforms designed to save taxpayer dollars and make our government work more efficiently and effectively. That’s why I welcome today’s announcement by the President that he is moving forward with efforts to consolidate several agencies that focus on trade and commerce. When the President was first considering this proposal last year, Jeff Zients the Deputy Director for Management at the Office of Management and Budget, approached me for my input and I told him the Administration should ‘go big’ and that’s what they appear to have done. This move is expected to save $3 billion dollars over the next ten years and in this tough budget climate where we’re counting every penny, that’s not chump change. I’ve been saying for years now that we need to look in every nook and cranny of the federal government to find savings, and this Administration continues to be a good partner with me and other members of Congress who are zealous in our pursuit of reforms that will help the government do more with less taxpayer money. As the federal government looks for ways to tighten its belt we have to be careful not to make cuts just for the sake of cutting – there’s always a great temptation to be penny wise and pound foolish in the pursuit of savings – but I think this policy strikes the right balance of streamlining federal operations without fundamentally crippling agencies’ ability to do their jobs effectively. I look forward to working with the Administration to move this – and other cost-saving measures—forward expeditiously.”

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