Too Many Positions Require Senate Confirmation, Reform Needed: Report
There are too many levels of political appointee leadership in some federal government agencies, and it is hurting the federal government’s ability to fulfill its mission. That is the conclusion of a new report from the Center for Presidential Transition, part of the Partnership for Public Service.
The report details concern with what it calls “layered leadership” or multiple levels of managerial oversight that require Senate confirmation.
For one, layered leadership can “introduce redundancy and reduce clarity about roles and responsibilities within agencies.”
And more layers mean more nominations the President must make and more confirmations the Senate must review, putting unnecessary burdens on each.
“Without reform, the Senate confirmation process will remain overburdened with layer after layer of Senate-confirmed positions to process, and agencies will be left with persistent leadership vacancies,” wrote the report.
Positions Needing Confirmation Grow
The report notes that the number of positions requiring senate confirmation has grown significantly over the past few decades.
Five major Cabinet agencies now have four or five levels of Senate-confirmed appointees managing agency offices and bureaus.
For instance, the Department of Defense (DOD) added four undersecretaries, five deputy undersecretaries, and three assistant secretaries since 1992. The Department of State added two undersecretaries and five assistant secretaries in the same period.
The report noted that with each level of appointee, delays in confirmation tend to increase. On average, the top two levels of appointees, secretaries, and deputy secretaries, take only 18 and 67 days respectively until confirmation. Appointees at the next level down take an average of 350 days until confirmation and levels below take over 400 days.
All this leads to more vacancies in key positions, which can hamper federal agencies’ ability to fulfill their mission.
Besides the obvious downsides of a vacancy, the report noted that long-standing vacancies hurt morale, increase turnover, and fail to empower leaders who step into positions on an acting basis.
Recommendations
The report made two recommendations.
· Congress should consider making the middle level of management into non confirmed political appointments or career executive appointments.
· Congress should consider removing the confirmation requirements for assistant secretaries at the bottom level.
“Federal agencies need these leaders in place to best perform key functions for the people they serve and for Congress to conduct rigorous agency oversight,” the report stated.
Partnership for Public Service President and CEO Max Stier also recently joined the FEDtalk podcast to discuss the need to reduce the number of political appointees, among other needed government reforms.
