According to the Partnership for Public Service’s Center for Presidential Transition, as of May 3, President Donald Trump had nominated only 73 of more than 1,100 political appointees requiring Senate confirmation and won approval for just 27 individuals, The Washington Diplomat reports.
The report shows that Trump is still well behind his predecessors in filling critical government posts, including deputy secretaries, ambassadors, chief financial officers and general counsels.
The Center for Presidential Transition notes that former President Barack Obama had nominated 193 individuals at this same point in his presidency, while George W. Bush’s tally was 152 nominations and Bill Clinton’s was 176.
Additionally, the pending number of appointees to clear federal ethics requirements is striking compared to that of the Obama administration, the center says. As of April 17, Trump had only submitted 41 percent of the nominee paperwork that his predecessor submitted in 2009, according to Office of Government Ethics data.
Earlier, in an interview with Fox Business, Trump blamed the vacancies on a “lousy confirmation process” and “obstructionists”. Although some of his Cabinet secretaries are reportedly frustrated by the slow pace of hiring, the president may not be in a rush to fill the empty jobs.
He has vowed to cut down on bureaucratic waste, so some positions are likely to be consolidated or eliminated. Trump also came to office on an anti-establishment pledge to drain the proverbial swamp, so stacking agencies with establishment figures would be anathema to his unorthodox administration, The Washington Diplomat writes.
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