President Joe Biden’s lengthy backlog of unconfirmed administration officials could endanger his ability to govern, and the White House is quietly losing patience with Senate Republicans holding up the confirmation process, Biden administration officials tell the Washington Examiner.
Two officials contended that although the Senate passed or is in the process of passing “absolutely necessary” legislation to fight the coronavirus pandemic and make “historic investments” in infrastructure, White House staff aren’t thrilled Republicans have managed to keep the administration historically understaffed heading into the August recess.
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Those officials voiced concerns that the president would be considerably limited in pursuing big-ticket campaign promises ahead of the 2022 midterm elections without those high-ranking staff.
Max Stier, president of the Partnership for Public Service, expressed similar doubts to Politico on Friday and suggested “acting” officials might not be able to push Biden’s items across the finish line.
“We’re missing critical leadership in our government,” he stated. “Yes, there are people in acting roles, and they can be amazing, but they don’t have the same political horizon. It’s the substitute teacher phenomenon. You’re there to keep the class going, but you’re not there for the long haul.”
Chris Meagher, a White House spokesman, told the Washington Examiner, “It is critical for our national security and foreign policy that the Senate move forward as quickly as possible with these qualified, experienced nominees.”
“We are engaging with Senate Republicans to try to find a path forward, and hope the Senate abides by its historic tradition of confirming a large group of nominees prior to the summer recess,” Meagher continued. “Many nominees have received strong bipartisan support. It’s critical we fill these vacancies and allow our public servants to get to work advocating for America abroad and restoring our country’s standing around the world.”
Meagher also confirmed the exact state of play of Biden’s nominees, which at this point, 200 days into his first year in office, falls significantly short of the pace set by his four immediate predecessors.
At this point in their terms, former Presidents Bill Clinton (339 nominations, 248 confirmations), George W. Bush (448, 291), Barack Obama (430, 304), and Donald Trump (308, 130) had confirmation backlogs of 91, 157, 126, and 178, respectively.
Compare that to Biden, who has seen only 127 of his 405 nominees confirmed by the Senate, resulting in a backlog of 278.
The White House also highlighted that Trump, Obama, and Bush had several nominations pushed through by voice vote heading into the August recess. Trump and Bush saw 75 and 81 officials confirmed between July 31-Aug. 7 during their first years, while 104 of Obama’s nominations were confirmed between July 23-Aug. 7 of his first year.
A number of Republican senators, including Rick Scott of Florida and Ted Cruz of Texas, have actively delayed the confirmation process over policy disagreements with the administration.
Scott unleashed his holds to protest Biden’s immigration policies in June. He vowed to block the nominations of Jen Easterly as the director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and all other Department of Homeland Security officials until Vice President Kamala Harris visited the border. Easterly was later confirmed in July.
Cruz has been blocking nominations over Biden’s refusal to implement new sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline since March. He currently is holding up numerous State Department nominations on the same grounds, including nominees to serve as the ambassadors to Somalia, Algeria, Lesotho, Cameroon, the Republic of Congo, and Vietnam.
“I look forward to lifting the holds just as soon as they impose the sanctions on Nord Stream 2 that are required by federal law,” he said in a statement at the time, and a spokesman for his office told the Washington Examiner on Monday that Cruz “will use all leverage and prerogatives he has as a U.S. Senator to get the Biden administration to follow the law and implement Congressional mandates to sanction and stop completion of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.”
“That includes holding State Department nominations that the Biden administration and Senate Democrats have advanced to the confirmation stage,” the spokesman added.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken also addressed the massive State Department backlog last week.
“These are critical national security positions,” he said in remarks delivered at the State Department. “They include overseeing security in our embassies and facilities around the world and helping clear the passport application backlog caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.”
It’s worth noting the federal government grew by more than 50% over the past 60 years, according to a study published Monday by the Center for Presidential Transition. The number of Senate-confirmed positions jumped from 779 in 1960 to 1,237 in 2016.
Meanwhile, the average time it takes a nominee to be confirmed has skyrocketed. Trump’s and Obama’s average confirmation process lasted 117 and 112 days, respectively, compared to an average of 56 days in the Reagan years.
“These trends generate serious barriers to government effectiveness, responsiveness and agility. In collaboration with the executive branch, the Senate has occasionally taken steps to reduce the number of political appointees and make the confirmation process more efficient,” the report continues. “However, the number of Senate-confirmed positions poses a daunting challenge for any president, often leading to vacancies that undermine the execution of responsibilities that Congress has established and the taxpayer’s fund.”
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Furthermore, “the current number of Senate-confirmed positions has created a logjam, hindering the ability of administrations to fill critical roles and undermining the effectiveness of the American government.” The report recommends reforming the “unsustainable status quo” through “cooperation across the executive and legislative branches.”
