Trump's Temporary Cabinet and Government Vacancies

While the partial closure of the government is about to become the longest in history, an executive branch filled with temps and vacancies is another sign that the federal government is not working as it is. must.

The president sought to give a positive perspective to the situation by informing the journalists last Sunday that the heads of department ad interim gave him more "flexibility", but that this presented a drawback. Not only does this deprive Congress of its oversight role in approving senior officials of the president, but experts say that interim officials are limited in their ability to make long-term and strategic decisions because they are not likely to not to occupy their positions.

At his cabinet meeting on January 2, while Trump was sitting alongside his senior officials, viewers might be excused for not recognizing many. Familiar faces like former Defense Secretary James Mattis, Chief of Staff John Kelly and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, all of whom resigned in December. In their place were a handful of relatively unknown interim agency officials, including Patrick Shanahan, Acting Secretary of Defense, and David Bernhardt, Zinke's interim replacement in the Department of the Interior.

Three Cabinet members, Attorney General, EPA Administrator and UN Ambassador, are occupied by acting officials, Trump's permanent candidates await confirmation from the Senate. Three other acting officials are filling their posts with no immediate indication of when Trump intends to appoint permanent replacements. Even the new chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, is acting, although this post does not require confirmation from the Senate.

With regard to vacancies in federal agencies, there are 271 vacant positions in management positions. require confirmation from the Senate, according to the Partnership for the Public Service. This includes 70 vacancies at the State Department, 14 at the Pentagon and 17 at the Department of Justice. Official candidates are waiting for confirmation of Senate nominations for most of these vacancies.

"Your administration has started slowly to fill its management positions and continues to fall behind, even now," said Stier. "The added item is the amount of the business figure, especially at the top."

On Wednesday, the White House sent six new Senate appointments. This included the formal appointment of Andrew Wheeler as permanent chief of the EPA, two months after Trump announced his intention.

The presidential assistants and their allies state that the vacant posts are in part a symptom of the difficulty for the administration to recruit candidates for positions and the difficulty of confirming them in a very divided Senate. They also accuse the Democrats.

"President Trump has a qualified and talented bench for senior officers, giving him the flexibility to continue his positive agenda for the American people and the time needed to select the right substitutes." The Democrats continue to procrastinate, to delay and obstruct the necessary candidates, "White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said in a statement.

Temporary leaders may find it difficult to rally their employees and their senior managers, who see them without real power. They may also have trouble developing relationships within the government, including with Congress, compromising their ability to get things done.

At Capitol Hill, Republican lawmakers are very reluctant to Trump's suggestion that he can simply leave acting officials to their posts indefinitely.

"Not in agreement with that," said Republican Senator Oklahoma James Lankford, to the question of how Trump relied on the interim leadership of his agencies. "We need to ensure that people confirmed by the Senate occupy these positions."

Lankford stated that having acting secretaries had a significant impact, as their authority may be more limited than that of nominees to the Senate. "They can not execute all the policies when they act," he told CNN. "Whenever you have an acting role, they can not perform all the tasks that can be performed by a person appointed to the Senate."

According to Aides, Trump often interviews a large number of associates, friends and advisers in order to play a key role in his administration.

He has repeatedly proposed positions to candidates under the spur of the moment, while announcing the hiring and firing of other officials via his Twitter feed.

the resources devoted to the selection of potential candidates and to their public defense have diminished.

"I think it's always best to have the opinion and consent of the Senate and people who have been carefully monitored and confirmed," said Texas Republican Senator John Cornyn.

If the government puts an end to its activities in Washington, Trump may lose even more time.

Government Ethics Officers who examine candidates perform their duties in a small team and the Senate will probably not take any other position. important business while the closure is still in effect.

CORRECTION: This story and graph has been updated to correct the number of vacancies at the Pentagon.