Trump's son-in-law to oversee government
revamp
Send a link to a friend
[March 28, 2017]
By Susan Heavey and David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President
Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, already a White House senior
adviser, will take on the additional task of overseeing an effort to
overhaul the federal government, the White House said on Monday.
Kushner, who is married to Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump, will lead a
White House Office of American Innovation to leverage business ideas and
potentially privatize some government functions as the White House
pushes to shrink government, cut federal employees and eliminate
regulations.
"This office will bring together the best ideas from government, the
private sector, and other thought leaders to ensure that America is
ready to solve today's most intractable problems," Trump said in a
memorandum creating the office that includes about a dozen White House
officials.
Trump, who campaigned on a pledge to "drain the swamp," has enacted a
hiring freeze for most civilian federal jobs and proposed massive cuts
in U.S. domestic agencies that could shrink the size of government by
thousands of workers
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2017/Mar/28/images/ads/current/maskeauction_sda_022614.png)
The Republican president has also proposed sweeping cuts in government
regulations and plans to sign an order on Tuesday rolling back some
energy regulations.
"We have a lot more coming," he said on Monday at a ceremony signing
bills to repeal four regulations, vowing to eliminate every "job-killing
regulation that we can find."
A number of recent presidents including Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and
Barack Obama had mixed success with their own initiatives to reinvent or
streamline government using suggestions from the private sector.
Kushner has been a regular presence at his father-in-law's side and was
earlier cleared by the Justice Department to serve as a White House
senior adviser even as Democrats raised concerns about potential
conflicts of interest.
He has been given a wide range of domestic and foreign policy
responsibilities, including working on a Middle East peace deal. He will
continue to serve in the other roles even as he takes up the new duties,
the White House said.
[to top of second column] |
![](../images/032817pics/news_w41.jpg)
Jared Kushner looks on as President Trump, flanked by Secretary of
State Rex Tillerson, holds a cabinet meeting. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
![](../images/ads/current/richardson_lda_090916.png)
Last week, Ivanka Trump received her own office in the White House
along with access to classified information and a government-issued
phone. Aides had said earlier she would not take on a role in her
father's White House.
The Washington Post quoted aides as saying she would collaborate
with Kushner's innovation office but would not have an official
role.
TAKING ON WASHINGTON
Among past efforts to overhaul the way Washington works, Clinton in
1993 called for "reinventing government." His reforms led to a
slower pace of federal hiring, reducing the federal workforce by
240,000 jobs and closing small offices. Congress did not agree to
some of the more aggressive cuts.
Bush proposed government management reforms, but ended up focusing
largely on restructuring national security agencies after the Sept.
11, 2001, attacks, folding many agencies into the new Department of
Homeland Security.
Obama in 2012 proposed closing the Commerce Department and creating
a new export agency, saving $3 billion over 10 years and cutting
1,000 plus jobs. His plans failed to get congressional approval.
(Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Peter Cooney)
[© 2017 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2017 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2017/Mar/28/images/ads/current/graue_sda_2016.png) |