Cabinet Officers and Structure Bill

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Cabinet Officers and Structure Bill

All executive departments are hereby abolished and new executive departments are assigned duties from the US executive departments and principal officers as follows:

1. Department of State and Defense:
i. This department shall have jurisdiction over all matters relating to the Departments of State, Defense, Homeland Security and Veterans' Affairs.
ii. Its Prinicpal Officer shall be the Secretary of State and Defense, who upon adoption of this act shall be either the sitting Secretary of State or the sitting Secretary of Defense and Security as the President may wish.

2. Department of Economic Affairs:
i. This department shall have jurisdiction over all matters relating to the Departments of the Treasury, Commerce, Energy, Agriculture, Transportation and Labor
ii. Its Principal Officer shall be the Secretary of Economic Affairs, who upon adoption of this act shall be the sitting Secretary of the Treasury.

3. Department of Education, Health and Welfare
i. This department shall have jurisdiction over all matters relating to the Departments of Education, Health & Human Services and Housing & Urban Development
ii. Its Principal Officer shall be the Secretary of Education, Health and Welfare, which shall be vacant upon the adoption of this act.

4. Department of Forum Affairs
i. This department shall have jurisdiction over all matters relating to Elections and to the Department of the Interior and shall also maintain the Atlas Forum Headquarters.
ii. Its Principal Officer shall be the Secretary of Forum Affairs, who upon adoption of this act shall be the sitting Secretary of Forum Affairs.

5. Department of Justice
i. This department shall have jurisdiction over all matters relating to the Department of Justice, and shall be the legal advisor to the government and shall also maintain the Senate status thread.
ii. Its Principal Officer shall be the Attorney General, who upon adoption of this act shall be the sitting Attorney General.

6. In line with those provisions contained within the Constitution, the Line of Succession after the Chief Justice shall be as follows:
i. Secretary of State and Defense
ii. Attorney General
iii. Secretary of Forum Affairs
iv. Secretary of Economic Affairs
v. Secretary of Education, Health and Welfare

[JohnFKennedy]

Just a quick note Al, this would have to be an amendment as the current cabinet positions are mentioned in the constitution so unless we get a new constitution pretty soon, this would be an amendment.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Just a quick note Al, this would have to be an amendment as the current cabinet positions are mentioned in the constitution so unless we get a new constitution pretty soon, this would be an amendment.

Hopefully we'll be getting a new constitution soon...

[Gabu]

Taking a page from Peter Bell's book, if we do turn this into a constitutional amendment, it might be better to scrap the constitutional definitions of the departments and just have the constitution say "Congress may define executive departments and positions therein through appropriate legislation", given that the members of the Executive Branch other than the President and Vice President are not really fundamental to the governmental structure of the country (as evidenced by our desire to now give those departments an overhaul).

I suppose you would also have redefine where the line of succession is defined as well, if you did that, though.

[Peter]

Taking a page from Peter Bell's book, if we do turn this into a constitutional amendment, it might be better to scrap the constitutional definitions of the departments and just have the constitution say "Congress may define executive departments and positions therein through appropriate legislation", given that the members of the Executive Branch other than the President and Vice President are not really fundamental to the governmental structure of the country (as evidenced by our desire to now give those departments an overhaul).

I suppose you would also have redefine where the line of succession is defined as well, if you did that, though.

This is the structure I have constructed in my Constitutional draft. Really this should ideally wait for a new Constitution and then its much easier to implement.

[minionofmidas]

Or you might simply reframe this bill, keep the current cabinet titles and assign the duties mentioned here to them.
I don't recall what the current constitutional provision is like, but if it mentions only the secretaries, not the departments, then you'd only have to change the names in your ii. subsections.
(So, department of state and defense, or maybe call it defense and foreign affairs to make it less confusing, under the secretary of defense; department of economic affairs under the secretary of the treasury; department of health etc under the secretary of state).

[MasterJedi]

I support this bill as does the Treasury Department.

[12th Doctor]

Isn't this taking a lot of power away from the Executive Branch.  I think this bill is verge-on violating seperation of powers.  I'm not sure that it is, but I think that it should at least be discussed.

[Gabu]

Isn't this taking a lot of power away from the Executive Branch.  I think this bill is verge-on violating seperation of powers.  I'm not sure that it is, but I think that it should at least be discussed.

I don't think that the Executive Branch defines the offices in that branch in real life.  Correct me if I'm wrong.

[Defarge]

I stand in favor of this bill

[12th Doctor]

Isn't this taking a lot of power away from the Executive Branch.  I think this bill is verge-on violating seperation of powers.  I'm not sure that it is, but I think that it should at least be discussed.

I don't think that the Executive Branch defines the offices in that branch in real life.  Correct me if I'm wrong.

The Constituion provides that it is the Presidents poragative.  He simply needs the approval of the Senate when it is going to cost a long-term comitment to funding.

[Peter]

The Constituion provides that it is the Presidents poragative.  He simply needs the approval of the Senate when it is going to cost a long-term comitment to funding.

The Constitution provides that the President shall appoint the Principal Officers of the Executive departments with the advice and consent of the Senate. The Executive departments however still need to be established by Law, since the executive can only act where legislation has authorised it to (this was brought about by the Founders fear of executive tyranny).

You can see the law that established the department of homeland security here

[DanielX]

I support separate State and Defense departments. Sorry, but diplomats and soldiers do not mix.  To save a spot, you could put Education, Health, and Welfare under Economic Affairs.

[JohnFKennedy]

I hereby open formal debate time on this bill.

[12th Doctor]

Quite simply put, I don't liek the idea of a united "State/Defense" Department.  The objectives of the two departments are fundamentally different and are almost dirrectly opposed to one another.  The competition between the two departments is a good thing, as it gives the President more view points and angles to consider when making a decision.  I will oppose any bill that calls for any proposal to unite the two departments.

Also, I am in the long process of drafting a bill calling for the formation of a GTO.  If this passes, it will give the Sec. of State plenty to do.

[Jake]

I hereby open formal debate time on this bill.

JFK, I think debate time is up for this bill, it is a week, yes?

[JohnFKennedy]

I hereby open formal debate time on this bill.

JFK, I think debate time is up for this bill, it is a week, yes?

It is indeed, I didn't get much time on the computer yesterday and so little on the forums heh.


I hereby open the voting on this bill, all Senators vote yea, nay or abstain.

[12th Doctor]

Nay

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Aye

[Gabu]

Is this bill even Constitutional?  I was going to vote, but then I noticed that JFK said that this needs to be an amendment.

[Nym90]

Aye.

[King]

This bill is unconstitutional has it violates the line of succession in the Constitution, however, with the 2nd Constitutional Convention going on, we might get it in.

[Peter]

Thats not true King, in fact I wired the bill so that it wouldn't breach the present line of succession; I'm absolutely flabbergasted that the AG hasn't stepped in to give his opinion on constitutionality as it generally is the place of the AG to do such things.

[The Duke]

Bumping, because I do hope the bill passes eventually.

[Gabu]

Oh, whoops, I didn't see that Peter Bell had responded to this.

Anyways...

Abstain.

I like the general gist of this bill, so I don't want to vote against it, but I really don't like the melding of the Departments of State and Defense.