State of turmoil

Well, hard times call for hard measures—and there seems to be an unending stream of them coming out of Washington.

In his State of the Union speech this week, President Obama called not only for a spending freeze (let’s not get into that again here), but also for a significant reorganization of federal agencies.

Certain bailiwicks in fact can overlap—or at least appear to—among agencies. The president used the example of oversight of salmon, which he said are under the purview of the Interior Department in freshwater and the Commerce Department in saltwater. That seems pretty clear-cut as an example of an odd arrangement.

But we are sure that—like the across-the-board budget cut proposals being bandied about in Congress—it just ain’t as simple as all that.

Let’s assume the White House does send a reorganization plan to Congress, and that Congress buys into it…

How do you think (predict) it will affect your agency? What’s the saltwater/freshwater example in your organization?