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United States federal executive departments

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(Redirected from Federal executive department) Primary unit of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States "Executive Department" redirects here. For the idea of executive departments in general, see Cabinet (government).
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The United States federal executive departments are the principal units of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States. They are analogous to ministries common in parliamentary or semi-presidential systems but (the United States being a presidential system) they are led by a head of government who is also the head of state. The executive departments are the administrative arms of the president of the United States. There are currently 15 executive departments.

Overview

Structure

Each department is headed by a secretary whose title echoes the title of their respective department, with the exception of the Department of Justice, whose head is known as the attorney general. The heads of the executive departments are appointed by the president and take office after confirmation by the United States Senate, and serve at the pleasure of the president. The heads of departments are members of the Cabinet of the United States, an executive organ that normally acts as an advisory body to the president. In the Opinion Clause (Article II, section 2, clause 1) of the U.S. Constitution, heads of executive departments are referred to as "principal Officer in each of the executive Departments".

The heads of executive departments are included in the line of succession to the president, in the event of a vacancy in the presidency, after the vice president, the speaker of the House, and the president pro tempore of the Senate. They are included in order of their respective department's formation, with the exception of the Secretary of Defense, whose position in the line of succession is based on when the Department of War was formed.

Separation of powers

To enforce a strong separation of powers, the federal Constitution's Ineligibility Clause expressly prohibits executive branch employees (including heads of executive departments) from simultaneously serving in Congress, and vice versa. Accordingly, in sharp contrast to virtually all other Western democracies (parliamentary systems) where ministers are selected to form a government from members of parliament, U.S. legislators who are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate to serve as heads of executive departments must resign from Congress before assuming their new positions. If the emoluments for a new appointee's executive branch position were increased while the appointee was previously serving in Congress (e.g., cost of living adjustments), the president must implement a Saxbe fix.

Contracting and grantmaking roles

As is evident from the chart below, several executive departments (Education, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, and Transportation) have disproportionately small employee headcounts in contrast to the size of their budgets. This is because many of their employees merely supervise contracts with private independent contractors or grants (especially categorical grants) to state or local government agencies who are primarily responsible for providing services directly to the general public. In the 20th century, when the federal government began to provide funding and supervision for matters which were historically seen as the domain of state governments (i.e., education, health and welfare services, housing, and transportation), Congress frequently authorized only funding for grants which were voluntary, in the sense that state or local government agencies could choose to apply for such grants (and accept conditions attached by Congress) or they could decline to apply. In the case of HHS's Medicare program, Congress chose to contract with private health insurers because they "already possessed the requisite expertise for administering complex health insurance programs", and because American hospitals preferred to continue dealing with private insurers instead of a new federal bureaucracy.

Current departments

Department Seal Flag Formed Employees Total budget Head
Title Titleholder
State July 27, 1789 30,000
(2023) 		$58.1 billion
(2023) 		Secretary of State Antony Blinken

Treasury September 2, 1789 100,000
(2023) 		$16.4 billion
(2023) 		Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen

Interior March 3, 1849 70,000
(2023) 		$35 billion
(2023) 		Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland

Agriculture May 15, 1862 100,000
(2023) 		$242 billion
(2023) 		Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack

Justice July 1, 1870 113,543
(2012) 		$37.5 billion
(2023) 		Attorney General Merrick Garland

Commerce February 14, 1903 41,000
(2023) 		$16.3 billion
(2023) 		Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo

Labor March 4, 1913 15,000
(2023) 		$97.5 billion
(2023) 		Secretary of Labor Julie Su (acting)

Defense September 18, 1947 3,200,000
(2023) 		$852 billion
(2023) 		Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin

Housing and Urban Development September 9, 1965 9,000
(2023) 		$61.7 billion
(2023) 		Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Adrianne Todman (acting)

Transportation April 1, 1967 55,000
(2023) 		$145 billion
(2023) 		Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg

Energy August 4, 1977 10,000
(2023) 		$45.8 billion
(2023) 		Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm

Health and Human Services October 17, 1979 65,000
(2023) 		$1.772 trillion
(2023) 		Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra

Education October 17, 1979 4,200
(2023) 		$79.6 billion
(2023) 		Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona

Veterans Affairs March 15, 1989 235,000
(2023) 		$308.5 billion
(2023) 		Secretary of Veterans Affairs Denis McDonough

Homeland Security November 25, 2002 250,000
(2023) 		$101.6 billion
(2023) 		Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas

Former departments

Department Formed Removed from Cabinet Superseded by Last Cabinet-level head
Title Titleholder
War August 7, 1789 September 18, 1947 Department of the Army
Department of the Air Force 		Secretary of War Kenneth Claiborne Royall
Army September 18, 1947 August 10, 1949 Department of Defense
(as executive department)
became and still are military departments within the Department of Defense 		Secretary of the Army Gordon Gray
Air Force Secretary of the Air Force Stuart Symington
Navy April 30, 1798 August 10, 1949 Department of Defense
(as executive department)
became and still is a military department within the Department of Defense 		Secretary of the Navy Francis P. Matthews
Post Office February 20, 1792 July 1, 1971 United States Postal Service Postmaster General Winton M. Blount
Commerce and Labor February 14, 1903 March 4, 1913 Department of Commerce
Department of Labor
(The Department of Commerce is considered a continuation of the Department of Commerce and Labor under a new name.) 		Secretary of Commerce and Labor Charles Nagel
Health, Education, and Welfare April 11, 1953 October 17, 1979 Department of Education
Department of Health and Human Services
(The Department of Health and Human Services is considered a continuation of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare under a new name.) 		Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare Patricia Roberts Harris

Proposed departments

See also

References

Citations

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  32. "116 - Special Message to the Congress on Executive Branch Reorganization". The University of California, Santa Barbara - The American Presidency Project. Archived from the original on February 14, 2017. Retrieved February 13, 2017. The new Department of Economic Affairs would include many of the offices that are now within the Departments of Commerce, Labor and Agriculture. A large part of the Department of Transportation would also be relocated here, including the United States Coast Guard, the Federal Railroad Administration, the St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation, the National Transportation Safety Board, the Transportation Systems Center, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Motor Carrier Safety Bureau and most of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The Small Business Administration, the Science Information Exchange program from the Smithsonian Institution, the National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety from the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare and the Office of Technology Utilization from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration would also be included in the new Department.
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Sources

External links

Federal executive departments of the United States of America
Current
Former
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