The president controls how many appointments

The Politics of Presidential Appointments will provide the starting point, and rightfully so. Whitford, Perspectives on Politics. David Lewis's latest offering is exactly such a book.

This book. With its mixture of insightful theory, careful statistical tests, and a deep understanding of how bureaucracies work, this book represents the scientific study of bureaucracy at its finest. David Lewis is a striking exception. This well-argued, methodologically rigorous study of the baleful impact of the increasing number of political appointees in agencies on government performance makes an important contribution both to the academic literature and to an important practical debate about governance.

Lewis is careful in his arguments, precise with his data, and logical in his presentation. He has collected and analyzed impressive evidence to explain the techniques of politicization and their consequences.

This book is the most complete analysis of presidential personnel policy available. Schechter Poultry Corp. Hampton Jr. Western Pacific Railroad Co. United States. Sunstein Federalist No. Epstein Office of Management and Budget. Voter information What's on my ballot?

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Election results. Privacy policy About Ballotpedia Disclaimers Login. First, more workload detracts from the time Senators have to concentrate on vetting and considering appointments. But for President Biden, the Senate has already wrestled with a presidential impeachment trial, an attempted coup, an ongoing public health disaster, an economic collapse mirroring the Great Depression, and passage of two historically massive spending programs.

Delay on those grounds alone would be inevitable says the research. Second, policy making increases the likelihood that Senators will use nominees as pawns in a completely unrelated game. For example, Texas Senator Ted Cruz R has already threatened to slowdown two Biden nominees for the State Department to highlight his own opposition to a gas pipeline deal between Russia and Germany, even though the Biden administration has already announced it opposed the same pipeline and had already placed sanctions on the Russian actors involved.

The threat of delay on these nominations clearly has little to do with the two nominees by comparison with whatever it is Senator Cruz wants to promote. In addition, the agenda can affect the decision process in the White House as well, delaying nominations to concentrate on policy making and a growing agenda along with essentially crisis management carrying out new initiatives.

Since the inauguration, for example, the Biden White House has produced fewer new nominations as the average of his six predecessors: 32 to 35 respectively. Candidate Biden promised an administration that reflected the make-up of the new American population. On gender, he has set records with his appointments. The White House Transition Project documents the pace at which a new administration fills out the American executive branch through its appointments power. WHTP tracks the pace of appointments in four ways.

These appointments include top administration positions in all the cabinet agencies e. WHTP tracks the most important ambassadorships e. Also, note, technically the largest group of PAS positions are uniformed military officers. The Pace of Institutional Deliberations. Second, WHTP follows the vetting processes both in the Executive and the Senate, detailing how long each takes to move a nomination along. This period typically involves the pace of ethics and security screening. Note, in the modern era, if the Senate votes, it confirms virtually all nominations.