Agency Shakeups

I meant to link to this Wall Street Journal article about the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation's efforts to retain its jurisdiction in the face of massive proposed overhauls of the financial regulatory system. I single it out because I think the piece is a leading indicator of something I've seen coming for a while: that 2010 could be a major year for agency reorganizations. In the case of the FDIC:

Ms. Bair's struggle is part of a broader battle over the future shape of the apparatus that regulates the U.S. financial system. In the wake of the crisis, virtually every agency involved stands accused of being asleep at the switch, and officials who led the response are under fire. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who by the end of next month faces a Senate vote on his re-appointment to a second four-year term, is trying to fight off an assault on the central bank's powers. Mr. Geithner is frequently blasted by the left for being too close to Wall Street.

And no matter whether the Office of Personnel Management ends up with health care jurisdiction or not, federal agencies are going to have to build capacity to take on a supervisory role for reform. The Department of Homeland Security represented a major reshuffling of federal agencies, but not necessarily an expansion of capacity. But I think next year could be different. All of which means big questions about fiscal management, personnel, and oversight.