Can a president unilaterally abolish a federal department like the Department of Energy?

1. Presidential tools — what the White House actually can do

The White House has repeatedly used executive orders and memoranda to “eliminate” or “reduce” agencies’ functions where the order says “to the maximum extent permitted by law,” instructing agency heads and OMB to reject funding requests and wind down operations consistent with law ^{[1] [2]}. Those documents show a deliberate strategy: the administration can reassign tasks, press other agencies to absorb programs via interagency agreements, and cut personnel and discretionary funding — all administrative levers that weaken an agency without a statutory repeal ^{[2] [5]}.

2. The legal limit — Congress creates and abolishes departments

Cabinet departments and many of their statutory authorities exist because Congress passed laws creating them; abolishing those legal entities or transferring statutory functions across government generally requires new legislation. Presidential “reorganization authority” has been granted by Congress at times — allowing the president to propose consolidations or abolition subject to limited legislative oversight — but that authority is temporary and must be enacted by Congress ^[3]. Without that congressional grant, a president lacks unilateral power to erase a department’s statutory existence ^{[3] [4]}.

3. Recent practice — dismantling by reassignment and attrition

The 2025 Trump administration pursued a squeeze strategy: executive orders called for elimination “to the greatest extent permitted by law,” and agencies like Education have been offloading major programs to other departments through interagency agreements, mass layoffs, and reassignments rather than an instant repeal ^{[1] [6] [7]}. News outlets report the Education Department transferring core offices and responsibilities to Departments such as Labor and HHS as a step toward “shuttering” the department — a pragmatic path that changes operations without a single congressional vote to abolish the agency ^{[6] [8] [7]}.

4. What counts as “abolishing” a department in practice

There are two different endpoints often conflated in reporting: (A) statutorily abolishing a department (removing it from law), which requires Congress; and (B) functionally dismantling it — moving programs, cutting staff, and reallocating funding — which an administration can aggressively pursue administratively ^{[3] [6]}. Reporting shows the administration is pursuing B: reassigning responsibilities to other agencies through interagency agreements and executive actions that do not by themselves repeal the department’s enabling statutes ^{[6] [7]}.

5. Historical precedent and limits of unilateral action

Congress has abolished agencies before — for example, moving or dissolving entities by statute — but these actions are legislative, not executive ^[4]. The presidential reorganization authority referenced in historical and modern accounts has occasionally permitted presidents to “divide, consolidate, abolish, or create agencies” by directive only when Congress grants that special authority; absent such authorization, abolition requires legislation ^[3]. Media verification pieces explicitly note that presidents “can’t get rid of the entire agency on his own” without Congress ^[4].

6. Political and legal friction you should expect

When an administration attempts to dismantle a department administratively, Congress, state governments, unions, or affected stakeholders often litigate or push back politically; recent cutbacks and reassignments of Education functions provoked union criticism and state governors’ vows to fight the moves ^{[6] [9]}. Courts can also block or slow actions — and Congress can respond by passing laws or using appropriations to preserve functions ^{[6] [3]}.

7. Bottom line for the question asked

A president can take broad executive steps to downsize, reassign, or largely neutralize a federal department using executive orders, funding controls, and interagency transfers “to the extent permitted by law,” but abolishing a department’s statutory existence requires Congress or a specific, legislatively granted reorganization authority — a tool not automatically at the president’s disposal ^{[1] [3] [2]}. Available sources document the current administration’s aggressive administrative approach toward dismantling departments but do not show a unilateral, legally complete abolition of a Cabinet department without congressional action ^{[6] [8]}.