Delays Mount for Presidential Appointee Nominees, Report Calls for Change
It’s taking longer to get presidential nominees confirmed by the Senate, and it’s putting agencies’ ability to fulfill their missions at risk. In fact, the Partnership for Public Service recommended that in some cases, it may be easier to appoint members of the Senior Executive Service (SES) to cut down on confirmations and keep the government running smoothly.
The newly released report from the Partnership’s Center for Presidential Transition found it took nearly three times as long for President Biden’s nominees to be confirmed through the first three years of his presidency, as compared to President George H.W. Bush’s in the late 80s and early 90s.
President Biden also had 250 to 300 fewer nominees confirmed through his third year as compared with Presidents George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush.
Vacancies and Delays Mount
Looking deeper at the numbers, the report found that over 80 Senate-confirmed positions have been vacant more than half the time since 2009. And 21 of the positions have not had a single person serving in them since 2016, including positions at the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the State Department.
Out of those 80 positions, President Biden made nominations for 67 of them, while President Trump made nominations for 68 of them. However, 27 percent of the positions never had a nominee confirmed under President Biden, while 35 percent of the positions never had a nominee confirmed under President Trump.
Nominees for the 80 positions in question also dealt with considerable delays.
The average time for nomination to confirmation for President Biden’s choices for those positions was about eight months. The average time for President Trump’s was nearly nine months.
Overall, it has taken an average of 172 days for President Biden’s appointees to be confirmed and an average of 153 days for President Trump’s appointees to be confirmed.
The report pinned the delays largely on the slow pace of the Senate, which has been dramatically slowed by increases in political tension, member holdups, and other issues.
Solutions
To ensure that important jobs are filled, one solution floated by the report’s authors was to reduce the number of positions needed Senate confirmation. That could include putting members of the Senior Executive Service (SES) into some of these positions, as the report notes that many SES members are temporarily filling vacancies anyway.
“While some of these roles are best performed by an appointee of the president due to their close connection to policymaking, many could be better served by the consistent leadership of a member of the Senior Executive Service,” stated the report.
It’s a move that was applauded by the Senior Executives Association (SEA).
“Career federal executives have proven that they are ready and able to step up and into agency leadership positions. Career senior executives provide stability in administration and enable presidents to faithfully execute the law. They also provide important institutional memory and expertise on how best to implement priorities for new appointees of any administration,” said SEA President Marcus Hill.
Hill noted that reducing the number of appointees overall, and those requiring confirmation, while also strengthening career executive and appointed leadership were longstanding goals for the association, reflected in SEA’s Joint SES Policy Agenda.
