President Obama sees small businesses as America’s job creators. In order to support American business initiatives and relieve the strain of navigating dense government regulations, the President has announced a new plan that would consolidate six federal departments and agencies that focus on business and trade into a single department so that more Americans can get back to work and businesses can continue to grow. Currently, entrepreneurs must interact with separate entities in order to do business with the government. These departments include the U.S. Department of Commerce’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 U.S Trade and Development Agency. Under President Obama’s new plan, merging the agencies into one department with a single website (BusinessUSA) and phone number would cut waste and make the system more efficient by eliminating redundancies. As the Government Reorganization Fact Sheet released January 13, 2012 explains, “We’re living in a 21st century economy with a 20th century bureaucracy. Our economy has fundamentally changed, but the government has not. The needs of our citizens have fundamentally changed but their government has not. Instead, the government has only grown more complex.” President Obama’s consolidation efforts will make business interactions with government easier and will ultimately help businesses grow, compete, and thrive here at home.

The President’s commitment to helping small businesses by merging government departments is a part of his Consolidation Authority Act that is calling on Congress to reinstate presidential authority in reorganizing the government. In his efforts to rethink, reform, and remake our government, President Obama demonstrates the need for Washington to meet the challenges of the 21st century by making government more accessible to the people it serves.