Obama proposes shrinking government

Jan 13, 2012, 16:48 GMT

Washington - US President Barack Obama on Friday called on Congress to allow him to streamline the bureaucratic maze in Washington by consolidating government agencies.

'The government we have is not the government we need,' Obama said in a speech from the White House. 'We live in a 21st century economy, but we've still got a government organized for the 20th century.'

Obama asked Congress to authorize him to reorganize departments and agencies within the government. Presidents were able to do so for decades in the last century, but Congress withdrew that authority from the president during Ronald Reagan's administration in the 1980s.

'Our economy has fundamentally changed - as has the world - but the government has not,' he said. 'The needs of our citizens have fundamentally changed but their government has not. Instead, it has often grown more complicated and sometimes more confusing.'

The move comes as Republicans have pounded Obama and his Democratic Party on spending, and the Republicans seeking to challenge Obama for the White House have vowed to shrink the size of the federal government.

Obama focussed on the need to consolidate the six departments and agencies that deal with business and trade, and which he said make it difficult for businesses to deal with the government.

'Today, I am calling on Congress to reinstate the authority that past presidents have had to streamline and reform the Executive Branch,' he said, noting that he would use the authority he already has to begin the process by elevating the Small Business Administration to a cabinet-level agency.