White House Proposes Merging Labor, Education Departments

The White House has proposed merging the Department of Labor (DOL) and the Department of Education into the Department of Education and the Workforce as part of a larger effort to make the federal government "more efficient, effective, and accountable," reports Pensions & Investments . The plan calls for combining all existing DOL and Education programs into a single department with four main subagencies concentrating on K-12, higher education/workforce development, enforcement, and research/evaluation/administration. The enforcement arm would include worker protection agencies from Labor responsible for enforcing laws related to workers' pay, safety, benefits, and other protections, along with federal employees' compensation programs. The Employee Benefits Security Administration would be folded into the Department of Education and the Workforce's enforcement subagency. Opponents to the proposal include Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.), who said, "The Department of Labor is no more equipped to oversee elementary education policy than the Department of Education is prepared to enforce standards for coal mine safety. The logic behind this proposal is painfully thin." The proposal also would restructure the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) by transferring its policy function into the Executive Office of the President. OPM administers the federal pension systems.