House Oversight Committee Critiques ED, DOL Merger Proposal
By Emily Isaacman, NASFAA Communications Intern
The Trump administration's radical proposal to reorganize several federal agencies — including merging the Department of Education (ED) and Department of Labor (DOL) into a single agency — faced its first public examination from members of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in a hearing Wednesday morning.
As lawmakers on both sides of the aisle impassionately critiqued a wide range of elements within the proposal, Margaret Weichert, deputy director for management at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), provided insight into the reasoning and objectives behind the suggestions.
"Despite dramatic changes in technology, our federal government still operates much like it did 50 years ago," Weichert said. "And it isn't well organized to provide the service and flexibility that Americans expect in the digital age."
Since an executive order signed in spring 2017 requested a plan to increase the efficiency of the federal government, the OMB has collected information from affected parties and looked at years of research by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), Weichert said. The report proposes reorganization in agencies where GAO has repeatedly identified problems, which other means have failed to solve.
Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), ranking member of the committee, said in his opening remarks that he does not take the plan seriously because of its failure to include "basic prerequisites," such as analyses of the costs and benefits for workers. Cummings proceeded to devote the bulk of his time to a plea for bipartisan action to address the family separations taking place at the border.
Meanwhile, Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) in his opening comments stressed his strong support for the proposal.
"Decisions that may have made sense in the past may not make sense in the context of a 21st century society," Meadows said.
However, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle took issue with potential inefficiencies and political motives driving the changes, focusing especially on proposals to privatize the U.S. Postal Service and Air Traffic Control and to consolidate nutrition services with other welfare programs.
With the exception of Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), who has welcomed the idea of consolidating ED and DOL into the Department of Education and the Workforce (DEW), lawmakers were skeptical of the move's practicality.
Weichert confirmed the similarity between the new agency's name and the House Committee on Education and the Workforce — which Foxx pointed out — was intentional. Weichert said OMB examined several other countries, including China, that have developed their education and workforce agencies in this tradition.
Under the proposal, ED's Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA) would move with eight other offices from DOL into a sub-agency called the American Workforce and Higher Education Administration (AWHEA). Weichert explained the shift was intended to make student aid more accessible to students pursuing educational programs other than four-year institutions, citing two-year colleges, vocational and technical programs, and potentially apprenticeships.
She confirmed FSA would still operate as its own entity and would not be further merged.
Rep. Paul Mitchell (R-MI) said he and his Republican colleagues applaud the consolidation, but noted the need to "be aggressive" about reducing administrative costs in the process.
Weichert said the goal of consolidation is to improve "mission, service, and stewardship," and to keep costs level.
Democrats, on the other hand, staunchly opposed all aspects of the proposed merge.
Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA), ranking member of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, demanded Weichert acknowledge historical Republican attempts to abolish ED completely.
"You have to understand why there's skepticism," Scott said.
He pointed to the disparate missions of each department's civil rights office — ED focuses on issues like education equity and rights of disabled students, while DOL deals with topics like affirmative action and employment discrimination — as indicative of the agencies' fundamental differences.
Weichert said OMB plans to work with the oversight committee to figure out how to address these incongruities. This admittal of uncertainty on Weichert's part was consistent throughout the hearing, and she repeatedly referred to the proposal as a "framework" to guide future discussion
Moving forward, Weichert said OMB will work with Congress, agencies, and other stakeholders this summer to begin developing an implementation plan.
Weichert estimated some aspects of the plan, should Congress give its approval, could be acted upon about three to five years later. But given the pervasive concerns expressed at the hearing, congressional agreement could be hard to come by.
Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) said the ED and DOL merge does not have enough votes to pass the Senate, and he does not expect the plan to be included in the budget for fiscal year 2019, Politico reported.
"If the federal government does not make the kinds of changes that you all are recommending here," Foxx said in her closing remarks, "we are failing the American people."
Publication Date: 6/28/2018
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