Posted on 04/10/2019 7:15:39 AM PDT by Navy Patriot
The White House is moving to do what no president has accomplished since World War II: eliminate a major federal agency.
If the Trump administration succeeds at dismantling the Office of Personnel Management, the closure could be a blueprint for shuttering other departments as it tries to shrink government.
The agency would be pulled apart and its functions divided among three other departments. An executive order directing parts of the transition by the fall is in the final stages of review, administration officials said, with an announcement by President Trump likely by summer. OPM employees were briefed at a meeting in March.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
The Coast Guard prior to 9/11 and the formation of DHS was under the Treasury Department in peacetime, and under the Navy in wartime. It should be under the Pentagon as a separate service. That is where it would serve best and be properly supported.
#2 I remember when HEW was around. Then the E was removed and a new agency created with a starting budget of $10 billion. Only gotten worse since.
During conflicts, the Coastguard performed all of the functions of the TSA, but with disciplined military personnel instead of mall cops.
I have a stupid question.
Has the state of public education in this country improved, since Jimmy Carter set up a separate cabinet level Department of Education?
If the state of education has not improved, it begs many questions about whether we really need such a department.
Not to mention issues of federalism, and why are schools all across the country answerable to Washington DC for various matters in the first place.
The Dept of ED mostly administers the Title IV student loan program. However, that function could be shifted to Treasury.
Govt needs to get totally out of the mortgage and student loan industries. Freddie and Fanny need euthanizing.
Well, it is the Treasury that garnishes the people who don’t pay back their student loans, so it is a good fit.
OPM is the agency that essentially makes it impossible to FIRE a Federal employee.
Good. Very good.
Spread the alphabet agencies in Fargo, Duluth and Rochester.
0bama’s CTO and CIO thought a splash screen telling potential intruders, “Please don’t go beyond this point if you don’t have permission” was good enough to keep hackers away.
I rather think all evidence out of 0’s time was to undermine EVERYTHING POSSIBLE of our country.
It’s the only consistent answer to the endless string of abuses. They were never true “accidents.”
“..Coastguard performed all of the functions of the TSA...”
The CG has never been involved in airport security
It is about bloody time!!!
Complete and total education fail.
During WW2, not only did the Coastguard protect the airport system that we had - they protected railheads as well.
Which is why I made my post.
The original idea of the Civil Service was and still is good- hiring should be done only on the basis of competence and qualifications, not political affiliation, nor should anyone be terminated because of their political views. It’s still a good policy at the core, as long as objective criteria for performance and employment are followed.
It was not an effective or efficient way to run government when everyone hired under one party was fired when another party was elected.
Someone who is hired shouldn’t be able to be fired (for anything other than nonperformance, etc.) no matter WHO wins in 2020 merely because they are a Trump supporter. And vice versa. Prior to the Civil Service we had the ‘spoils system’ which was a hell of a lot worse. The problem has been that the criteria for non-performance has been degraded too far, so that incompetence and corruption can’t be punished. One can argue if salaries and benefits are too high, or that performance standards and hiring standards are too low. However there is no reason why individual departments can’t easily follow Civil Service rules.
The minute anyone in the GOP tries to defund PBS, the cries from the soccer moms are deafening! You’re killing Big Bird (Aside: Though if Sesame Street IP had been properly controlled by PBS and not farmed out completely to Henson & company, royalties from Seeame Street would likely have paid for all of PBS! I wonder if Ken Burns gobbled up all the cash from Civil War, etc!), now back to other soccer mom cries - harming my children’s education (You know “It’s for the children ! The new war cry of scoundrels!) Another soccer mom argument, “Well my town orchestra, symphony or tube band won’t have enough money to exist!
Always a million reasons to spend money! Few politicians can withstand the cacophony!
Of course it has improved!
Read about Common Core ... : )
Kids are dumber then ever because of it.
Failure is a feature, not a bug, of federal programs.
When they fail they need more money, of course!
I can quickly come up with a list of departments that I would close before OPM.
What you say is all true. I would suggest the boiling frog approach: start taking the money away little by little until there’s none left. Republicans can always think of a thousand reasons to not do something that’s unpopular. Time they step up and commit to reducing PBS’ budget.
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