The Fate of the Department of Commerce! Good or Bad?

In respect to What are Republicans and Democrats Forgetting in 2012? and What Would Obama Do?, what seems most puzzling in the President’s announcement is the fate of the Department of Commerce. NOAA is the behemoth in the Department and can be split off and housed at the Department of Interior.  Yet, Commerce houses agencies that provide important services to American exporters, including the  U. S. & Foreign Commercial Service (USFCS), the International Trade Administration (ITA), and the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS). They provide information, marketing help, and help protect us from untoward exports.

Mid-size American companies need such programs if they are to be competitive.  The reality of dealing in international markets, often called ‘burden of foreignness,’ is that they must cope with foreign currencies, new shipping and distribution outlets, custom regulations, language and cultural differences.

The president’s reorganization plan implies that the Department of Commerce will be streamlined out of business.  There is nothing bold or unique about proposing the dismemberment of the Commerce Department.  It has been done before.  In 1913, its labor Section became the Department of Labor.  In 1966, its transportation office became the Department of Transportation.    Like a modern-day Hydra, whenever a head is cut off, it is replaced by new ones.

The Department of Commerce’s newly appointed head will be limited in his influence at the table. A predictable turf battle of jurisdiction will be waged on Capitol Hill.  The department’s bureaus and activities will be up for grabs, picked over like a cadaver in the desert, without achieving the efficiency sought by the White House.

From “Don’t Kill Commerce”
By Don Bonker and Michael Czinkota