The White House announced a plan Thursday to
combine the Department of Labor and Department of Education into the Department
of Education and the Workforce. The proposal is part of a larger effort to make
the federal government "more efficient, effective and accountable."
The Labor Department and Education Department
share a common goal of preparing Americans for success but do so in
"separate silos," a White House report said. The proposal would merge
all of the existing DOL and Education Department programs into a single
department with four main subagencies focused on K-12, higher
education/workforce development, enforcement and
research/evaluation/administration.
The enforcement agency would include worker
protection agencies from the Labor Department that are responsible for
enforcing statutes related to workers' pay, safety, benefits and other
protections, as well as federal workers' compensation programs, according to
the White House report.
Under the proposal, the Employee Benefits Security Administration
would be part of the Department of Education and the Workforce's enforcement
subagency. Michael P. Kreps, principal at Groom Law Group, said if the agencies
are combined it's unlikely to have a big impact on EBSA. When ERISA was
created, employees from the IRS simply moved to DOL, he said, adding, "I
would think it would be the same idea here."
"Because Congress wouldn't be changing
the fundamental mission of the Department of Labor with respect to ERISA, that
seems like … there's probably not a huge impact on EBSA," Mr. Kreps said,
"other than changing (the) letter head."
The combined department would need
congressional approval. Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-North Carolina, chairwoman of the
House Committee on Education and the Workforce, said in a statement that she
endorsed the idea, adding, "The federal government is long overdue for a
serious overhaul. The proposed Department of Education and the Workforce is
recognition of the clear relationship between education policy at every level
and the needs of the growing American workforce."
Ranking Member Bobby Scott, D-Virginia, had a
different view. "The Department of Labor is no more equipped to oversee
elementary education policy than the Department of Education is prepared to
enforce standards for coal mine safety," Mr. Scott said in a separate
statement. "The logic behind this proposal is painfully thin."
Last year, President Donald Trump signed an
executive order directing the Office of Management and Budget to work on a
comprehensive plan to reorganize the executive branch.
The proposal would also reorganize the Office
of Personnel Management by moving its policy function into the Executive Office
of the President. OPM oversees the federal pension systems — the Federal
Employees Retirement System and the Civil Service Retirement System, both based
in Washington.
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