President Obama said today he is elevating the Small Business Administration to a Cabinet-level agen

[LanternWaste]

17. to reduce redundancy in the area of trade and commerce.

The proposal dates back to the president's 2011 State of the Union address, in which the president complained of government overlap and red tape that clogs the federal government, promising to tackle the problem. He injected a bit of humor into his speech to illustrate the point: "The Interior Department is in charge of salmon while they're in fresh water, but the Commerce Department handles them when they're in saltwater," he said to laughter. "I hear it gets even more complicated once they're smoked."

By late that year, however, officials shied away from forecasting when the president would fulfill his promise.

The White House announced early Friday morning that Obama would seek authority from Congress, not granted since the days of Ronald Reagan, to reorganize and consolidate portions of the federal government. His first proposal would be to reduce redundancy in the area of trade and commerce.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/01/13/obama-seeks-consolidation-authority-to-merge-agencies/#ixzz1jMs2m9Ej



Seems to me to be, at wost, merely benign. But I'm not very clever about these things...