Recent Event Highlights: Department Of Commerce today, Ron Brown named Secretary of Commerce, International Trade Administration established, Department of Energy is established, National Technical Information Service, Office of Minority Business Enterprise, and 20 more...
Created by cato on Jul 8, 2009
Last updated: 03/11/10 at 01:54 PM
The department has 53,000 employees and a budget of $11.8 billion.
The Inspector General of Commerce reports that 10 percent of the department’s 2006 budget consisted of congressional earmarks.
In response to a congressional inquiry, the department admits that more than 1,100 laptops have gone missing since 2001, many containing sensitive personal data.
John Huang, political operative and deputy assistant secretary for international economic affairs at Commerce, pleads guilty of campaign finance violations after steering millions of dollars to the Democratic Party, often from unknown sources. At Commerce, Huang had received dozens of classified briefings at the same time that he was keeping in close contact with foreign governments and business interests.
U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth determines that Commerce officials systematically concealed and destroyed documents relating to the Brown trade mission scandal. He compares the behavior of Commerce officials to that of "con artists" and "scofflaws," pointing to the "flurry of document shredding in the Secretary’s office" after Brown died. The scandal illustrates the dangers of entangling the government in promoting private business interests.
The new Republican House majority fails in an attempt to dismantle Commerce. Former Secretary of Commerce Robert Mosbacher calls the agency "nothing more than a hall closet where you throw in everything that you don’t know what to do with."
President Bill Clinton names political operative Ron Brown to be Secretary of Commerce. Brown’s tenure is marred by investigations into how he used taxpayer-financed foreign trade junkets to raise campaign contributions. The Boston Globe finds that “coveted slots on U.S. foreign trade missions generated a major fund-raising bonanza for the Democratic Party.”
The Advanced Technology Program and the Manufacturing Extension Partnership are established to subsidize businesses in response to concerns that U.S. industry is falling behind foreign competition. ATP is renamed the Technology Innovation Program in 2007.
The U.S. Travel and Tourism Administration is created. This agency was closed in 1996, but Commerce still operates an Office of Travel and Tourism Industries.
The International Trade Administration is created in Commerce. The ITA’s activities include subsidizing exports and enforcing barriers to imports.
The Office of Energy Programs in Commerce is moved to the new Department of Energy.
The National Technical Information Service is created.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is created. Apparently, it is housed in Commerce because President Richard Nixon did not get along with his Secretary of the Interior.
The Office of Telecommunications is created, and later becomes the National Telecommunications and Information Administration.
The Office of Minority Business Enterprise is created. Today it is called the Minority Business Development Agency.
The transportation activities of Commerce are moved to the new Department of Transportation.
The Area Redevelopment Administration is created to distribute subsidies to depressed areas of the country. It is replaced in 1965 by the Economic Development Administration. The ARA and the EDA achieve notoriety for wasteful pork-barrel spending, the latter becoming a frequent target of Sen. William Proxmire’s “Golden Fleece” citations.
The Office of Business Economics, which will later be named the Bureau of Economic Analysis, is established.
The Bureau of Census provides detailed information about the neighborhoods where Japanese-Americans live in order to help the War Department round up 120,000 people and put them into internment camps. In some cases, the bureau provides lists to federal authorities that include the names and addresses of individual Japanese-Americans.
Some senators who support the New Deal consider abolishing the Department of Commerce and transferring its important functions to other agencies.
The current Commerce headquarters building is opened. It is a massive edifice covering eight acres, and is the largest office complex in the world.
A Radio Division is created in Commerce. Its activities are later moved to the Federal Radio Commission, and then to the Federal Communications Commission.
The Aeronautics Branch is created in Commerce, the forerunner of today’s Federal Aviation Administration.
Lighthouse Service workers are granted the first federal employee retirement plans. Today, generous pension and retiree health benefits for federal workers have created an enormous unfunded obligation for taxpayers.
The Bureau of Corporations within Commerce is moved to the new Federal Trade Commission.
The Department of Commerce is born when the Bureau of Labor is split off to form the new Department of Labor. An official history of the Department of Labor notes that its founding "was the direct product of a half-century campaign by organized labor for a 'Voice in the Cabinet.'"
The Department of Commerce and Labor has 11,999 employees, including 1,860 at headquarters and 10,139 outside of the district, with the latter including the Lighthouse Service (7,067), Immigration Service (1,537), and Steamboat Inspection Service (303). In census-taking years, such as 1910, the number of employees is much larger.
The Department of Commerce and Labor is established with about 10,000 employees. Today, the Department of Commerce has about 40,000 employees in non-census years.
The Census Office is given permanent status. Previously, an organization to carry out the census was created and disbanded every ten years.
The National Bureau of Standards is created and moves to Commerce two years later. The Constitution provides for the federal government to “fix the standard of weights and measures,” but the current National Institute of Standards and Technology pursues activities beyond that limited mandate.
In his first State of the Union address, President Theodore Roosevelt calls for the creation of a Secretary of Commerce and Industries. The purpose is to create a "comprehensive and far-reaching scheme" to oversee "our business interests," he says. Roosevelt wants to collect detailed economic information in order to increase federal regulation of businesses.
The Office of Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries is created. It moves to Commerce in 1903, then moves to the Department of the Interior for awhile, and finally moves back to Commerce, where it resides today as the National Marine Fisheries Service.
A national weather service is established under the Signal Corps of the U.S. Army. Later housed in the Department of Agriculture, it is transferred to Commerce in 1940.
The Department of State begins collecting information about foreign trade regulations. This activity expands over time and is moved to Commerce in 1903.
The Department of Treasury begins collecting and publishing statistics on foreign trade. Treasury’s collection of economic data expands in subsequent decades, and the activity is moved to Commerce in 1903.
President Thomas Jefferson signs legislation providing for a "Survey of the Coast." Federal mapping and surveying activities would end up in Commerce a century later, and then be incorporated into the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in 1970.
The Patent Bureau is established. It is moved to Commerce in 1925, where it remains as the Patent and Trademark Office. The granting of patents is an enumerated federal power under the Constitution.
The House of Representatives creates a Committee on Commerce and Manufactures. The Senate follows suit in 1816 with a committee of the same name.
The first national census is taken. The Constitution requires an enumeration of citizens every 10 years to apportion seats in the House of Representatives. Today, the Bureau of Census within Commerce collects a vast array of information beyond the basic decennial population data.
The U.S. Constitution goes into effect and the young nation goes on to become a great economic power. The rise in prosperity is fueled by entrepreneurship and the vast investment of private capital unhindered by the small and distant federal government.
The ninth law passed by Congress transfers lighthouse operations from the states to the federal government. When the Department of Commerce was created in the early 20th century, lighthouses were the department’s largest activity.
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