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Programs designed to make the most of the federal government’s purchas- ing power, such as GSA’s category management initiative, should appeal to the Trump administration because they are business-oriented, he said.
But business leaders who partici- pate in the Kushner-led effort will need to know how their advice will be used. Many of them will want to share their expertise, Young said, but to get true cooperation from the likes of Google, Apple and Tesla, “the White Houseisgoingtohavetodosoina way that protects private-sector [intel- lectual property].”
Dave Wennergren, executive vice president and chief operating officer of the Professional Services Council, expressed concern that industry par- ticipants might sacrifice their oppor-
tunity to contribute down the road. “If you’re an adviser to this little cell,” he asked, “does that ice you out of actually being a provider of that
service later?”
In the end, a lot will depend on
Kushner’s ability to keep his team focused. Young said he would look for “small but impactful results...in incre- ments of months, not years.” Another crucial sign will be how career staff and congressional stakeholders respond to policy ideas.
“I have questions about how it’s implemented and if the people in charge have the capacity to do this,” Shea said. “But it’s assignment of man- agement improvement at the highest level of government, and that’s a key ingredient for success.”
From the press room podium,
Spicer expressed confidence. “I think when you look at some of the busi- ness acumen of Jared and some of the other individuals...I think it is a great service to this country,” Spicer said.
A former employee of Kushner’s sounded a different note, howev- er. Elizabeth Spiers, who served as editor-in-chief of the New York Observer when Kushner took over the weekly newspaper as his first high-profile media investment, post- ed on Twitter that, “in my experi- ence, Jared will give people who have experience in an industry he’s never worked in advice re: how to do their jobs.” n
Aisha Chowdhry, Mark Rockwell and Troy K. Schneider contributed to this report.
“It’s not that career folks
don’t have the ideas about big change. But if these examinations are from the top down within the bounds of
an agency, the opportunities for duplication and overlap are typically interagency.That becomes difficult politically without confirmed sub- Cabinet officials in place.”
But Shea said that from the point of view of actually getting something done,
it makes sense to proceed
on multiple fronts. “We
tried to consolidate 17 community and economic development programs” into the Commerce Department during the George W. Bush administration, he added. “It was a big fight. I anticipate where you have multiple, similar reorganization efforts at the same time, it would be easier. Opposition couldn’t be focused on a single proposal.”
Furthermore, targeting
redundancies will only take the effort so far. “It will be interesting to see how new agency secretaries approach this,” said Gerton, who
served as a senior executive at the Defense and Labor departments after a 20-year career as an Army officer. “For folks who’ve been around, we know that the easy pickings have already been had.”
Shea agreed. “If this
is a cost-saving exercise, [reducing] overlap and duplication are not going
to get you there,” he said. “You’ll need to shed functions altogether.”
Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), ranking member
of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s Government Operations Subcommittee, said there is a cynical, even “nihilistic and anarchic” element to the whole enterprise.
“This isn’t some
honest, good-government reorganization, an Al Gore 2.0,” Connolly said. “This is in the context of a massive hiring freeze, the resurrection of the Holman Rule” and
the prospect of significant budget cuts. “Trump has picked as heads of agencies people who have avowedly renounced the missions of those agencies.”
Connolly said he is
also concerned about
the process being routed through the White House budget office. “The order gives enormous power to the head of OMB,” he said. “It’s vaguely worded, but
it invests the OMB director with enormous authority to make recommendations” for eliminating and combining programs and for devolving functions to state and local governments.
Gerton said that if the
plan is to hand over federal functions to the states, representatives of those governments should be directly involved in the process. “I would hope that Trump invites the governors in to discuss what they’re thinking about and what that means for the states so that solutions can be developed collaboratively,” she added. “Surprise is not a good- government technique.”
Mader said he anticipated some innovative thinking from Trump appointees who hail from the business world and from career agency executives who have worked on government programs for their entire careers.
Connolly, on the other hand, expects a political battle. “It’s going to be a big, huge, brawling philosophical fight” about the role of government, he said. “And I’ve got my boxing gloves.” n
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