You know that the election year has truly hit full speed when a “Big Spending”, “Big Government” POTUS like Barack Obama comes up with a plan to “SHRINK” the Federal bureaucracy!

From USA Today:

President Obama asked Congress today to give him the power to make it easier to reorganize the federal government, starting with a plan to combine various offices devoted to international trade.

“We live in a 21st-century economy, but we’ve still got a government organized for the 20th century,” Obama said in remarks at the White House.

Speaking to a group of invited business owners, Obama asked for what is called “fast-track authority.” It would enable him — and future presidents — to propose specific re0rganizations for up-or-down congressional votes; Congress could not amend or change the plan submitted by the president.

He want to start with 6 major offices that have to do with business and trade and states that this action would save $3 billion dollars over 10 years by downsizing 1,000 to 2,000 jobs, all of which would be lost to attrition, not firings.

The Kitchen Cabinet asks: What real significance is saving $3 billion over ten years after just asking the Congress to raise the debt limit by $1.2 TRILLION? This isn’t even slight of hand, it’s pure absurdity!

To make matters worse, Obama wants to start his “consolidations” with the government agencies that control business and trade: the Commerce Department’s core business and trade functions; the Small Business Administration; the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative; the Export-Import Bank; the Overseas Private Investment Corporation; and the Trade and Development Agency. This would give a president that has continually shown he is not a champion of business, especially of small businesses, and who is a major supporter of unions, unprecedented control over ALL the businesses in the U.S. via more and more Federal rules and regulations.

This type of reorganization authority was originally given to President Herbert Hoover during the Great Depression and was later taken away from Ronald Reagan during his Presidency. For Obama to bring this up now seems like just so much campaign rhetoric, not a real attempt to fix the current state of affairs. Once again from the USA Today piece:

Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX)

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said Obama — proponent of the health care law and new financial transaction laws — is making an election year conversion to the cause of small government.

“Yesterday, President Obama asked for a $1.2 trillion increase in the debt limit, today he is proposing to shrink the federal government,” Cornyn said. “Unfortunately, President Obama does not have much of a record to back up his newfound, election-year enthusiasm for limited government.”

Finally, Obama also announced “that he will exercise his executive authority to elevate the head of the U.S. Small Business Administration to a cabinet-level position.”

We will place our cynicism on hold and hope for the best in the elevation of the SBA head to the Obama Cabinet as small businesses need all the help and encouragement that they can get!!!!!

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Filed under: Economy, Featured, Inside The KC, Politics by TKC Administrator, Jan 13, 2012