Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) plans to introduce legislation that would consolidate the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency into a new single agency which would be called the Department of Energy and the Environment (DOEE).
The legislation serves as companion legislation to one introduced in the Senate last year (S. 892) by Richard Burr (R-NC).
The goal of the merger is cost savings. According to GAO, consolidation of duplicative or fractured programs in the government can yield significant savings by combining overlapping functions, and Blackburn believes the roles of these two agencies qualify. Blackburn says her legislation could cut wasteful spending by more than $3 billion next year.
In a statement about the legislation, Blackburn said, “If we are going to put America back on the right path to prosperity, we need to cut the fat in Washington and get rid of excessive regulations that are stifling the ability of our nation’s small businesses to grow and create jobs. It’s time to rein in Washington bureaucrats and put an end to the practice of picking winners and losers at the expense of the American taxpayers.”
