The bill amends Chapter 9 of Title 5 to reauthorize the President’s executive reorganization authority and to ensure efficient execution of government reorganization. It broadens the scope by redefining “agency” to mean “executive department” and by extending the reach to offices and officers of the executive branch, while excluding the Government Accountability Office and the Comptroller General.
The measure adds new authority to reduce the number of federal employees, to amend rules and requirements to decrease cost and compliance burdens, and to eliminate operations that do not serve the public interest. It also tweaks timing and terminology across several sections to align with the new reorganization framework and to accommodate potential changes in the federal structure.
At a Glance
What It Does
It expands the executive reorganization framework by redefining agencies as executive departments, broadening the scope to include offices and officers, and adding explicit aims to reduce federal staff, pare back burdensome rules, and eliminate non-essential government operations.
Who It Affects
Executive departments and their offices, as well as the President’s reorganization authority; the definition of what counts as an agency expands to include many parts of the executive branch, with some exclusions.
Why It Matters
This creates a more flexible, centralized mechanism for reorganizing the federal government, potentially reducing costs and complexity while changing how accountability and oversight work in practice.
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What This Bill Actually Does
The Reorganizing Government Act of 2025 seeks to refresh the government’s authority to restructure itself. It begins by reauthorizing the President’s executive reorganization power and broadens the vocabulary of who is involved, swapping “agency” for “executive department” across several provisions.
It also expands the pool of units that can be reorganized to include offices and officers within the executive branch, while explicitly excluding the Government Accountability Office and the Comptroller General from those definitions. In practical terms, the bill gives the executive branch new means to consolidate functions, eliminate unnecessary operations, and adjust rules to reduce compliance costs.
The Five Things You Need to Know
The bill adds new grounds to eliminate government operations not serving the public interest.
“Agency” becomes “executive department” in multiple sections, broadening what can be reorganized.
A new subsection authorizes consideration of a net increase in federal workers or expenditures.
Several time references are updated, including a 1984 baseline moved to 2026.
The reform also tightens definitions and reduces references to agencies in favor of executive departments.
Section-by-Section Breakdown
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Expanded purposes for reorganization
Section 901 adds new items to the authorization to reorganize and streamline government. It explicitly lists aims to reduce the number of federal employees, amend rules to lower costs and compliance burdens, and eliminate operations that do not serve the public interest. This broadens the justification for a reorganization plan beyond mere consolidation to active pruning of the federal footprint.
Definition of executive department
Section 902 redefines “executive department” to include executive departments, agencies, or independent establishments of the United States, plus offices or officers of the executive branch. It also excludes the GAO and the Comptroller General from this definition to preserve certain auditing authorities.
Terminology across the plan
Section 903 shifts the language from “agencies” to “executive departments” in several places, ensuring consistency in how reorganizations are described and implemented across the plan. It also removes an explicit prohibition on abolishing an enforcement function or statutory program in some contexts.
Agency wording across sections
Section 904 mirrors the terminology change in 903, substituting “executive department” for “agency” throughout the cited sections to harmonize the framework for reorganizations.
Reorganization authority—new net-increase item
Section 905 reorganizes the structure of the authority, including renumbering subsections and updating references to “executive department” instead of “agency.” It adds a new clause—subsection (7)—that contemplates creating a net increase in the number of federal workers or in expenditures, introducing a potential growth dimension into the reorganization calculus.
Additional agency-to-department references
Section 907 extends the agency-to-department terminology shift to further points in the law, ensuring consistent implementation language across the reorganization framework.
Date adjustments to 2026
Section 908 updates dates in the statute, moving original baseline dates (which previously referenced 1984) to December 31, 2026, aligning the reform with new modernization timelines.
Numerical references updated
Section 909 changes the numeric references (e.g., from 19 to 20), reflecting updated sequencing in the reorganization provisions and ensuring internal consistency.
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Explore Government in Codify Search →Who Benefits and Who Bears the Cost
Every bill creates winners and losers. Here's who stands to gain and who bears the cost.
Who Benefits
- Executive department leaders and their policy staff, who gain clearer authority to consolidate functions and prune operations as part of reorganizations.
- OMB and White House policy staff, who coordinate and approve major reorganizations and cost-saving measures.
- Congressional oversight committees responsible for government reorganization and fiscal accountability, which benefit from clearer authorization and reporting paths.
- The general public and taxpayers, who could experience lower costs and simpler government operations due to streamlined rules and fewer duplicative programs.
Who Bears the Cost
- Federal employees in positions slated for elimination or realignment, who may face job displacement or reassignment.
- Agencies and offices incurring transition costs during reorganizations (e.g., restructuring, staff retraining, systems upgrades).
- Contractors and vendors serving eliminated or consolidated programs may lose some demand for services.
- Potential short-term increases in spending or staffing under the new net-increase provision, which could offset near-term savings.
Key Issues
The Core Tension
The central dilemma is whether chasing efficiency through aggressive pruning and realignment can be reconciled with the new allowance for net increases in headcount or spending, risking a misalignment between stated efficiency goals and actual fiscal outcomes.
The bill foregrounds efficiency through consolidation and rule simplification, but it also introduces ambiguity via the new net-increase clause. The explicit authorization to reduce staff and to eliminate unnecessary operations could conflict with mechanisms that allow a net increase in workers or expenditures; how these two objectives balance in practice will hinge on the administration’s reorganization plans and the congressional oversight that follows.
Additionally, redefining “agency” as “executive department” and excluding GAO from the new definitional scope may shift accountability, auditing, and monitoring dynamics, potentially creating gaps in post-reorg oversight or in the comparative evaluation of efficiency gains.
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