White House Issues Proposal for Reorganizing Government

The White House today issued a report with recommendations for structural realignment of the executive branch, including renaming the Department of Health and Human Services as the Department of Health and Public Welfare. The proposal would move the non-commodity nutrition assistance programs currently in the Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service into HHS. It also would establish a Council on Public Assistance, comprised of all federal agencies that administer public benefits, with statutory authority to set cross-program policies including uniform work requirements. Among many other changes, it calls for moving three HHS research arms – the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, and the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research – under the National Institutes of Health; renaming the Food and Drug Administration as the Federal Drug Administration and having it focus on drugs, devices, biologics and tobacco; and merging the departments of Labor and Education. Most of the changes included in the 132-page report would require congressional approval.