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Executive Order 13174 Revoked 🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority Constitutional Fidelity (+0.23) 📜 5th Amend: Regulatory Execution with Due Process

Executive Order 13174—Commission on Workers, Communities, and Economic Change in the New Economy

•
Friday, October 27, 2000
•
3 min read (554 words)
•
65 Fed. Reg. 65705

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 3 min read (554 words) • ● Revoked
🎯 Primary Mandate

The Commission shall conduct a study of matters relating to economic dislocation, and worker and community adjustment to such dislocations.

⚖️ Constitutional Footing
🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority
Express or Implied Congressional Authorization
📜 5th Amend: Regulatory Execution with Due Process
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Merchants, Importers & Commercial Enterprises Sovereign State Governments & Localities Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants Private Citizens & Property Owners

Plain-English Translation & Framers' Constitutional Analysis

Early Statesman synthesis distilling legal jargon into practical meaning, statutory anchors, and structural constitutional impacts.

Signed by President William J. Clinton on October 27, 2000, this order concerns Commission on Workers, Communities, and Economic Change in the New Economy. There is established the "Commission on Workers, Communities, and Economic Change in the New Economy" (Commission). The Commission shall be composed of up to 14 persons to be appointed by the President from individuals who represent State or local agencies relating to workforce or community development, economists or other workforce development experts, labor organizations, business leaders, and Members of Congress.

Constitutional Assessment: Evaluated against the Fifth Amendment, this action touches upon property or economic rights. An early statesman would insist upon strict adherence to due process of law and the constitutional guarantee that private holdings shall not be encumbered or taken for public purposes without just compensation and lawful process.

Key Directives & Operative Actions

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Functions

The Commission shall conduct a study of matters relating to economic dislocation, and worker and community adjustment to such dislocations.

▪
Report

Not later than 12 months after the first meeting of the Commission, the Commission shall prepare and submit to the President and the Congress a report that contains a detailed statement of the findings and conclusions of the Commission’s study carried out under section 2 of this order, and includes: (1) a summary of best practices and policies carried out by employers and public-private partnerships in providing workers with the education and training needed to effectively adjust to economic change; (2) a summary of best practices and policies carried out by or on behalf of communities in responding to large-scale economic changes; and (3) any recommendations relating to legislative and administrative actions that the Commission…

▪
Administration

Members of the Commission shall serve without compensation for their work on the Commission.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Merchants, Importers & Commercial Enterprises 🏛️ Sovereign State Governments & Localities 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants 🏛️ Private Citizens & Property Owners
🏛️

The Framers' Constitutional Council

1787 Prism

Evaluating this order against the constitutional debates of 1787 and the limits of Article II executive power.

🏛️✅ Zone 1 (Maximum Authority)
§

"When the President acts pursuant to an express or implied authorization of Congress, his authority is at its maximum, for it includes all that he possesses in his own right plus all that Congress can delegate."

— Justice Robert H. Jackson, Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer (1952) Express or Implied Congressional Authorization
JM

James Madison

Separation of Powers & Legislative Primacy

"The constitutional magistracy was designed not to invent policy, but to be the faithful instrument of the laws passed by the people's representatives." — Speech in the First Congress (1789)

Madison would approve the structural posture of this order. The President acts strictly in subordination to statutory authority granted under Article II, Section 3 ("take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed"). The checks and balances hold firm because the policy origin remains with the legislature.

Madisonian Stance: Concurring (Statutory)
AH

Alexander Hamilton

The Energetic Executive & Unified Command

"A feeble Executive implies a feeble execution of the government; and a government ill executed, whatever it may be in theory, must be, in practice, a bad government." — Federalist No. 70 (1788)

Hamilton would view this directive as the natural and indispensable functioning of administrative leadership. Without the power to coordinate agencies, manage personnel, and resolve operational ambiguities, the modern presidency would be reduced to an impotent figurehead.

Hamiltonian Stance: Supportive of Execution
GM

George Mason

Bill of Rights, Due Process & 10th Amendment

"The purse and the sword ought never to be in the same hands... nor the liberties of the citizen placed at the pleasure of a single magistrate." — Virginia Ratifying Convention (1788)

George Mason and the Anti-Federalists would sound a fierce warning. They feared that Article II would inevitably evolve into an elective monarchy. When an executive order impacts private rights, property, or civil liberties without individualized judicial process, Mason would see their darkest predictions verified.

Anti-Federalist Stance: High Bill of Rights Scrutiny
📐

Five Measurable "Constitutional Friction" Dimensions

An objective audit measuring potential separation-of-powers tension against the United States Constitution and established Supreme Court doctrine.

⚖️ Discretionary Twilight Zone
50 / 100 friction index
Dimension 1 • Art. I, §1 & §8

Legislative Encroachment & Purse

High Friction

Touches upon core congressional prerogatives: raises appropriations reallocation, tariff imposition, or statutory preemption questions.

Benchmark: Power of the purse, taxes/tariffs, and rule of law reserved to Congress.
Dimension 2 • Art. II, §1 & §3

Executive Scope & Faithfulness

Low Friction

Exercises standard supervisory executive authority to faithfully execute existing statutes.

Benchmark: Faithfully execute laws enacted by Congress vs. unilateral decree.
Dimension 3 • 10th Amendment

Federalism & State Sovereignty

High Friction

Creates friction with the Tenth Amendment by conditioning state grants, mandating local compliance, or preempting state police powers.

Benchmark: Police powers and un-delegated responsibilities reserved to the States.
Dimension 4 • 5th & 14th Amendments

Due Process & Individual Rights

Moderate Friction

Applies regulatory or compliance standards to private contractors or commercial entities.

Benchmark: Protection of private property, contracts, liberty, and procedural justice.
Dimension 5 • Separation of Powers

Youngstown Jacksonian Tier

Low Friction

The President operates strictly as the constitutional Chief Executive, carrying out policy established by Congress with strong statutory backing.

Benchmark: Express or Implied Congressional Authorization
⚖️ Audit Synthesis

This order operates within Justice Jackson’s Zone of Twilight, resting upon concurrent presidential authority or congressional silence.

Weighted composite: Art. I (25%), Art. II (25%), Federalism (15%), Due Process (15%), Youngstown (20%).
ℹ️
How to read these dimensions: Executive power expands whenever an administration acts without explicit statutory authorization from Congress (Article I), touches upon police powers historically reserved to the states (Tenth Amendment), or limits private rights and property without judicial process. A low friction score indicates strict concordance with enacted law; a high friction score highlights orders testing the limits of presidential discretion.
Total Words
554
3,675 characters
Estimated Read Time
3 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
19
Post-Graduate Legal
Language Tone Score
+0.23
Constitutional Fidelity
How is this scored?
Text size:

Official Archival Text

View Source Document

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the Federal Advisory Committee Act, as amended (5 U.S.C. App.), it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. #sec-1

Establishment. There is established the "Commission on Workers, Communities, and Economic Change in the New Economy" (Commission). The Commission shall be composed of up to 14 persons to be appointed by the President from individuals who represent State or local agencies relating to workforce or community development, economists or other workforce development experts, labor organizations, business leaders, and Members of Congress. The President shall designate a Chairperson from among the members of the Commission.

Sec. 2. #sec-2

Functions. The Commission shall conduct a study of matters relating to economic dislocation, and worker and community adjustment to such dislocations. In carrying out this study, the Commission shall examine: (a) the impact of international trade, technology, globalization, and the changing nature of work on both workers and their communities; (b) the effectiveness of existing Federal programs in assisting workers and communities in adjusting to economic change, including the adequacy of the design of such programs; (c) the strategies for providing workplace education and training to assist workers in acquiring new skills; (d) the strategies for assisting communities to adjust to changing economic conditions and changes in the mix of employment opportunities in those communities; (e) the role of public-private partnerships in implementing job training and community assistance; and (f) the role of income support and economic security programs in facili tating worker adjustment to rapidly changing economic circumstances.

Sec. 3. #sec-3

Report. Not later than 12 months after the first meeting of the Commission, the Commission shall prepare and submit to the President and the Congress a report that contains a detailed statement of the findings and conclusions of the Commission’s study carried out under section 2 of this order, and includes: (1) a summary of best practices and policies carried out by employers and public-private partnerships in providing workers with the education and training needed to effectively adjust to economic change; (2) a summary of best practices and policies carried out by or on behalf of communities in responding to large-scale economic changes; and (3) any recommendations relating to legislative and administrative actions that the Commission determines to be appropriate.

Sec. 4. #sec-4

Administration. (a) Members of the Commission shall serve without compensation for their work on the Commission. While engaged in the work of the Commission, members appointed from among private citizens of the United States may be allowed travel expenses, including per diem in lieu of subsistence, as authorized by law for persons serving intermittently in the Government service (5 U.S.C. 5701-5707). (b) The Department of Labor shall provide the Commission with funding and administrative support. The Commission may have paid staff. In addition, appropriate Federal agencies may be requested to designate staff to assist with the work of the Commission. The Secretary of Labor shall perform the functions of the President under the Federal Advisory Committee Act, as amended (5 U.S.C. App.), except that of reporting to the Congress, in accordance with the guidelines and procedures established by the Administrator of General Services.

Sec. 5. #sec-5

General Provisions. The Commission shall terminate 30 days after submitting its report. William J. Clinton

THE WHITE HOUSE, #signature

October 27, 2000.

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Referenced By Later Executive Orders (1)

Subsequent presidents who cited, amended, continued, or revoked this directive in later orders.

George W. Bush • 2001-06-20
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Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order No. 13,174, 65 Fed. Reg. 65,705 (Oct. 27, 2000).