HUH?
.............."When the Department of Commerce was first created by Congress in 1903, it was actually called the Department of Commerce and Labor; the Department of Labor was spun off as a standalone agency 10 years later.46 Since 1903, numerous programs and smaller departments have regularly moved in and out of Commerce. The Patent Office was transferred from the Department of Interior to Commerce in 1925. In 1940, the Weather Bureau was moved from the Department of Agriculture to Commerce. The Bureau of Air Commerce, which assumed the responsibility for air traffic control in 1936, became the Civil Aeronautics Authority in 1938 and in 1958 was transitioned to what is now known as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA); FAA is now part of the Department of Transportation.47"
Consolidation and reorganization are nothing new to the Department of Commerce, as evidenced by its history over the past 100 years. Just as private companies must adapt with the times, so too must government agencies be willing to change when necessary.
Although the Department of Commerce states that its current mission is to promote “job creation, economic growth, sustainable, development and improved standards of living for all Americans,” its primary activities include statistical analysis, weather monitoring, fisheries oversight, and patent enforcement.48 Those may all be worthy activities, but they do not represent a coherent, focused agenda. To allow the federal government to focus on the activities enumerated in the Department of Commerce’s mission statement, the Department of Commerce should be eliminated, and any vital programs should be transitioned to other agencies with more expertise and better alignment with a specific program’s core mission.
For example, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) should be pared down and moved out of Commerce and into to the Department of Interior, which has extensive experience overseeing natural resource management. The U.S. Census Bureau and U.S. Patent and Trademark Office should be converted into standalone agencies, reflecting their unique Constitutional mandates, while other statistical organizations should be transferred to the Departments of Treasury and Labor. The numerous trade-related organizations within Commerce, including the International Trade Administration, should be transitioned to and placed under the authority of the Department of Treasury. Programs targeting small businesses should be transitioned into the Small Business Administration. The Economic Development Administration should be phased out entirely, as proposed by President Ronald Reagan in the 1980’s.
The Department of Commerce maintained an over $9 billion budget in 2010, but the largest portions of the budget are directed at regulating oceans, managing fishing industries, and monitoring weather patterns – functions that do not mandate and independent department..................
Department of Education......More
Where is that a savings? Where is that cutting government spending?