The Commerce Department would be among those that would cease to exist.
In an election year and a political atmosphere of tighter spending, Obama's motivation is about improving a giant bureaucracy, but that is hardly all of it.
To voters sick of dysfunction, Obama wants to show some action on making Washington work better. Politically, his plan would allow him to do so by putting the onus on Congress and in particular his Republican critics in the House of Representatieves and the Senate, to show why they would be against the pursuit of a leaner government.
Obama will ask Congress to give him a type of reorganizational power last held by a president when Ronald Reagan was in office in the early 1980s.
The Obama version would be a so-called consolidation authority allowing him to propose mergers that promise to save money and help consumers.
The deal would entitle him to an up-or-down vote from Congress in 90 days.
It would be up to lawmakers, therefore, to grant Obama this fast-track authority and then decide whether to approve any of his specific ideas.
