Creation of Executive Departments: Highlights from the Legislative History of Modern Precedents

Publication Date: July 2002

Publisher: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

Author(s):

Research Area: Government

Type:

Abstract:

Congress is now considering proposals to create a Department of Homeland Security. Since World War II, Congress has created or implemented major reorganizations of seven of the now existing 14 Cabinet departments. This report describes the principal elements of legislative process that established the Departments of Defense; Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) (now, in part, Health and Human Services); Housing and Urban Development; Transportation; Energy; Education; and Veterans Affairs.

Congressional consideration of legislation establishing Cabinet departments has generally exhibited certain common procedural elements. In each case, successful congressional action was preceded by a presidential endorsement, the submission of draft legislation, or, in one instance, a reorganization plan by the President.

In the Congress in which they were approved, these proposals were considered by the House Committee on Government Operations and the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs (or their predecessors). The bill creating the Department of Defense (considered by the Senate Armed Services Committee), and the bill creating the Department of Energy (considered in part by the House Post Office and Civil Service Committee), were the two exceptions to this procedure.

With the exception of the Defense and Veterans Affairs Departments, all the departmental creation proposals were considered in the House under provisions of an open rule. In the Senate, the bills were most often brought up by unanimous consent; the HEW reorganization joint resolution was called up by motion.

Votes in committee and on final passage were generally by comfortable majorities. An exception was the House consideration of the Department of Education bill (H.R. 2444, 96th Congress), which cleared committee by a single vote and passed the House by a four-vote margin.

Finally, with the exception of the joint resolution approving the Department of HEW reorganization plan, all the legislation went to conference to resolve differences between House and Senate versions. With two exceptions, conferees were drawn from the reporting committees. House and Senate Veterans Affairs Committee members joined the conference on the Department of Veterans Affairs legislation, and members of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and the House Post Office and Civil Service Committee served on the Energy Department conference.

Additional information on the history of creating Cabinet departments appears in CRS Report RL31472, Departmental Organization, 1947-2001. CRS Report RL30673, The President's Cabinet: Evolution, Alternatives, and Proposals for Change, analyzes the role of the Cabinet.