Organizing Executive Branch Agencies: Who Makes the Call? (CRS Report for Congress)
| Release Date |
Revised June 27, 2018 |
| Report Number |
LSB10158 |
| Report Type |
Legal Sidebar |
| Authors |
Jared P. Cole |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
| Older Revisions |
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Summary:
In a series of executive orders, directives, and publicly released recommendations, the Trump
Administration has proposed reorganizing the executive branch. The reorganization proposals range from
restructuring entities within an existing agency, to moving entities from one existing agency to another, to
consolidating existing agencies into newly created departments, to privatizing certain government
agencies. The Administration has indicated that it considers some of these proposals to be within its
existing authority, while others may require new legislation authorizing such action. These orders and
proposals have prompted a recurring question concerning the composition of the federal government: who
decides how to organize agencies and departments within the executive branch? The ultimate answer to
this question is Congress. Legislative enactments create executive agencies and delegate authority to
those entities to carry out various statutory functions and duties. But executive branch agencies also
typically enjoy some discretion in determining how best to structure themselves to carry out their
statutory responsibilities, provided that reorganization does not conflict with their governing statutes or
legislative funding restrictions. This Legal Sidebar lays out the applicable legal considerations relevant to
analyzing potential agency reorganizations; for consideration of the potential policy implications of such
executive branch action, see this CRS Insight.
