More than two-thirds of President Biden's Cabinet nominees are stuck in a procedural bottleneck as they wait to be considered by the Democratic-run chamber.
Biden was sworn into office with more nominees ready to go than any of his recent predecessors. But only seven of his 23 Cabinet-level officials have been Senate-confirmed one month into his administration. Another handful of picks have cleared their respective Senate committees; they're simply waiting to receive a full-floor vote in the chamber. And more have hearings scheduled for next week.
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But as the new White House takes over the country's coronavirus pandemic without a Health and Human Services secretary or a confirmed head of the Education Department, the Senate last week was not in legislative session. Instead, senators took a weeklong break from floor activity and committee work after acting as jurors during former President Donald Trump's second unsuccessful impeachment trial. The chamber annually takes five business days off, starting with Presidents Day, but the majority leader, in this case, Democrat Chuck Schumer, can alter those plans. He did not.
Biden aides tasked with shepherding the president's nominees through their confirmations appear to becoming increasingly anxious over the delays.
"Timely confirmation of the President's deeply qualified and crisis-tested nominees is more critical than ever to defeating the pandemic, putting the American people back to work, ensuring families have food on the table, and re-opening our schools," Biden transition spokesman Andrew Bates told the Washington Examiner. "We continue to work with both parties in good faith towards that end."
The Senate next week will hear from attorney general nominee Merrick Garland, HHS secretary pick Xavier Becerra, Interior secretary choice Deb Haaland, and Katherine Tai, whom Biden tapped to be the United States Trade Representative. But Biden's progress falls short of his predecessors' first months in office.
Trump's nominees, for instance, experienced a median wait time of 25 days between their nomination, a Senate vote, or a withdrawal; two were confirmed on Inauguration Day. Former President Barack Obama's picks had a median two-day wait after six were approved on Jan. 20, 2009. Former President George W. Bush's administration was even speedier, with a median zero-day wait after seven were agreed to on his first day in office. Former President Bill Clinton's team notched a one-day median, while former President George H.W. Bush wasn't as fast, with a 13-day median.
In contrast, a month into his term, Biden has Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Treasury Janet Yellen, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Denis McDonough, and Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, as well as Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, who's technically not in Biden's core Cabinet. White House chief of staff Ron Klain and John Kerry, special presidential climate envoy, are Cabinet members, but their posts don't require Senate approval.
Biden's Cabinet "isn't in terrible shape," though past administrations had "more of the very top-level people in place by now," according to Bowdoin College government professor and transition scholar Andrew Rudalevige.
Rudalevige attributed the holdup to "the circumstances of the transition," including Trump's protracted election dispute, the Democrats winning Senate control after the Jan. 5 Georgia runoffs, the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, prolonged negotiations over how to organize a 50-50 seat Senate that weren't settled until Feb. 3, and Trump's impeachment trial that concluded last week.
"And, as you know, the Senate's work ethic is not up there in the best of years," Rudalevige said. "They seem to vanish quite a lot from Washington."
Biden's White House Office of Management and Budget director nominee, Neera Tanden, remains the president's biggest vulnerability, Rudalevige predicted. Tanden's nomination, however, could be doomed after West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin on Friday announced he will vote against her. That could leave Tanden short of the necessary votes. Becerra will face tough questions from Republican senators next week over his inexperience in healthcare policy and pro-abortion rights stances. Commerce secretary pick Gina Raimondo also faces pushback over whether Biden will keep Trump's sanctions on Chinese telecommunications company and national security risk, Huawei.
For Karen Hult, a Virginia Tech political science professor, Biden's acting officials and appointees could only bridge the leadership gap for so long. Departments and agencies depend on "a key public advocate and spokesperson for its agenda items and contributions to presidential priorities," she said.
"Some, like former Obama health adviser Nancy-Ann DeParle, have argued that in the midst of the pandemic, it’s critical to have the secretary of Health and Human Services in place," Hult said. "Others have made similar comments about the importance of the position of attorney general given the myriad concerns involving the U.S. legal system and the operation of the Justice Department."
Max Stier, CEO of the Partnership for Public Service Partnership, which houses the Center for Presidential Transition, reminded the Washington Examiner there aren't any examples of "a direct causal connection between something that should have happened that didn't happen" because a Cabinet member was not yet installed. But Stier warned this trend toward elongated confirmations has been worsening.
"I think it's bad for our country because, at the end of the day, leaders matter and having confirmed leaders in place is incredibly important, certainly for the long-term issues but even for dealing with the now," he said.
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Reducing the number of political appointees and nominees who require Senate consent, as well as making the ethics process easier, are among the changes Stier suggested, particularly because financial thresholds disincentivized top talent accepting government jobs.
"We need to see reform of the system because, in the best-case scenario, it's impossible to move with the speed that we really should," he said.
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