Why have subservient agencies?

As the Senate’s “nuclear option” gradually fills the ranks of executive agencies, their roles remain in doubt. The Trump administration’s aim is unprecedented and singular—to create a unitary executive, with all principal decisions made by or reflecting the president’s will. But questions remain about the integrity and sustainability of the decisions reached by the newly reconstituted agencies.

Exclusive presidential authority. A series of Supreme Court rulings over the past few years have expanded presidential authority, particularly with the appointment and tenure of administrative agency members. Congress created the agencies to provide independent expertise on the rapidly expanding and increasingly complex issues facing the federal government. They were contemplated as bipartisan, with appointees confirmed by the Senate and deemed by statute as secure in their roles, unless terminated “for cause.”

Many conservative elected officials and commentors have argued those agencies have grown too numerous, too large, and too independent of the president— creating an “administrative state” dominated by unelected bureaucrats, issuing countless quasi-legislative regulations.