Obama to Ask Congress for Power to Merge Agencies WASHINGTON - President Obama will ask Congress on Friday for greater power to shrink the federal government, starting with merging six sprawling trade and commerce agencies that have some overlapping programs, a senior administration official told The Associated Press. Mr. Obama will call on Congress to give him a so-called consolidation authority allowing him to propose mergers that promise to save money and help consumers and businesses. The agreement would entitle him to a yes-or-no vote from Congress within 90 days. It would be up to lawmakers, therefore, to first grant Obama this fast-track authority and then decide whether to approve any of his specific ideas. The White House said Mr. Obama would address his proposals for government reform Friday morning. In an election year, part of the president's motivation would be about improving a giant bureaucracy. But to voters sick of dysfunction, he presumably also wants to show some action on making Washington work better. Politically, his plan would allow him to do so by putting the onus on Congress, and in particular his Republican critics in the House and Senate, to show why they would be against the pursuit of a leaner government. Should he prevail, his first project would be to combine six major operations of the government that focus on business and trade, the White House official said. They are the Commerce Department's core business and trade functions; the Small Business Administration; the Office of the United States Trade Representative; the Export-Import Bank; the Overseas Private Investment Corporation; and the Trade and Development Agency. The goal would be one agency designed to help businesses thrive. The official said 1,000 to 2,000 jobs would be cut, but the administration would do so as people routinely leave their jobs over time. The administration said the merger would save $3 billion over 10 years by getting rid of duplicative overhead costs, human resources divisions and programs. It has been decades since the government has undergone a sustained reorganization of itself. Presidents have tried from time to time, but each part of the bureaucracy has its own defenders inside and outside the government, and that can make merger ideas politically impossible to achieve, especially when jobs are cut. The point, the official said, is not just making the government smaller but better by saving people time and eliminating bureaucratic nightmares. The idea for the consolidated business agency grew out of discussions with hundreds of business leaders and agency heads over the last several months.