Sen. Richard Burr had said the administration found the proposal 'intriguing.' EPA + DOE is DOA, White House says

The Obama administration “unequivocally opposes” a Senate GOP bill to merge the EPA and Energy Department into one super-agency.

The White House statement to POLITICO came in response to Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), the bill’s sponsor, telling reporters that the administration found the proposal “intriguing.”


Burr said his bill had attracted the attention of officials in the White House and the EPA, who called his staff to discuss it. As for the EPA, he said, “I think it’s a concern on their part.” He added, “I think the White House found it intriguing.”

But the administration’s definitely not interested, said White House spokesman Clark Stevens.

“The administration unequivocally opposes this bill,” Stevens said.

“When Sen. Burr’s press release cited this administration’s budget numbers, OMB reached out to the senator’s office to get additional clarity on the numbers the release cited and receive the full text of the bill. That is the extent of the conversations on this.”

The EPA didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Burr said he couldn’t conclude what the administration’s interest was, but he challenged the president to get on board.

“I wouldn’t expect the president to sign this bill, unless he is serious about fiscal responsibility and debt reduction,” Burr said.

Burr introduced his bill last week along with 15 GOP co-sponsors, saying that consolidating the agencies could result in more than $3 billion in savings in 2012 alone by eliminating redundancies.

And Burr rejected the notion that the bill was aimed at curtailing the EPA’s power as the agency’s regulations have come under fire on Capitol Hill. “Not at all,” Burr said, when asked if that was his intent. “The only way that you can rein them in is if you legislatively fenced off where they could go. We don’t change any of the legislative capabilities or the regulatory capabilities of EPA.”

Expect to see more bills like this one. Burr said he thinks “the next step is going to be to merge the Department of Labor with the Department of Commerce.”

Like the EPA-DOE merger, he said, that bill would slash costs by consolidating the agencies. He plans to roll out that bill in the next three weeks, he said.

This article first appeared on POLITICO Pro at 4:23 p.m. on May 10, 2011.