How Transition Funding Works

Transitions are pricey. John Podesta said today that Obama's would cost $12 million, about $7 million of which would have to be raised, and that lobbyists aren't allowed to throw money into this particular little sandbox. Lots of folks have been adding "as is customary" to the number that Congress has appropriated for the transition: $5.2 million, but haven't exactly explained that the figure isn't just customary, it's required by statute.

Congress didn't even have a mechanism for funding the transition until 1963, when it passed the Presidential Transition Act and allocated $900,000 for the transition. In 1976, that number went up to $3 million total, $2 million for the president-elect's team, and $1 million for the outgoing president's.

In 1988, the Presidential Transitions Effectiveness Act bumped the total number up to $5 million, an amount that the Government Accountability Office said at the time "provides adequate public money to eliminate the need for private funding for presidential transition." Twenty years later, that's no longer the case, obviously. $1 million is allocated for training appointees (thanks to John Kamensky for setting me right), and is provided through the Presidential Transition Act of 2000, sponsored by old favorites Fred Thompson and Joe Lieberman.

These numbers are flat. They're not adjusted for inflation. And thus, the Obama fundraising machine has to ride one more time. In this election cycle, anyway.

(H/T: About.com's Transition Guide)