Advance summaries of President Obama's fiscal 2016 budget say the $4trillion plan will include proposals to "consolidate and reorganizegovernment agencies to make them leaner and more efficient," according toa Monday White House fact sheet.

That could mean a resurrection of a plan Obama offered in January2012 that would have provided the president with fast-track priority inCongress to seek to save $3 billion over a decade by whittling down six majordepartments and agencies that handle business and trade.

That plan drew mixed reactions from business and environmental groups aswell as lawmakers who sought a more "collaborative" approach, in the words ofRep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif.

The earlierObama plan was billed as creating a new department "with a laserlike focuson helping businesses create jobs," according to an OMB official at the time.The president would have one chief executive officer to ask about programeffectiveness and foment a "greater sense of accountability" while facilitatinga "whole of government" approach to trade policy.

These include core business and trade components of the Commerce Department,the Small Business Administration, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative,the Export-Import Bank, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation and theU.S. Trade and Development Agency

The bid to reorganize goes back to a December 2010 study on boostingcompetitiveness produced by the liberal-leaning Center for AmericanProgress. Past presidents enjoyed such consolidation authority untilCongress took it away during the Reagan administration.

At least one Republican lawmaker recently expressed support for such aconsolidation. Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C, said, "Unfortunately, SenateDemocrats dropped the ball on the bipartisan idea of agency consolidation --including ideas suggested by President Obama," he said late last year. "I lookforward to working with my colleagues in the new Congress to advance thesensible goal of reducing spending and making government more effective byconsolidating duplicative government activities."

The small business community may not be happy. Lloyd Chapman, founder of thePetaluma, Calif.-based American Small Business League, accused Obama of"wanting to eliminate the Small Business Administration" at a time when smallbusinesses are struggling to win more government contracts from largercompanies.

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