Pritzker Concedes Government Consolidation is Unlikely
The Obama administration effort to consolidate government agencies that deal with trade functions continues to be inhibited by congressional reluctance, said Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker on April 17 at the Johns Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International…
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Studies. President Barack Obama in 2012 urged Congress to pass implementation legislation (see 12011711). Lawmakers introduced the Reforming and Consolidating Government Act of 2012, but the bill died in committee (here). It would have consolidated the Commerce Department’s core business and trade functions, the Small Business Administration (SBA), the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, the Export-Import Bank, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, and the U.S. Trade and Development Agency. "Reorganization is interesting. Congress is not interested in it. So I’m not spending a lot of time focusing on it,” said Pritzker, in response to a question following a speech on the Obama administration’s trade agenda in the Asia-Pacific region.