Congress Should Withhold Support for Agency Requests Until Trump Nominates Qualified Leaders, Groups Say

The federal government’s response to the novel coronavirus pandemic is being hampered by a lack of confirmed agency leadership and Congress should ramp up efforts to force President Trump to nominate qualified officials to permanently fill vacancies, a group of more than a dozen good government and employee advocacy organizations said on Tuesday. 

The Trump administration’s “fumbling response” to the outbreak is a “symptom” of the lack of presidentially appointed, Senate-confirmed leaders across agencies directly involved in those efforts, groups like the Project on Government Oversight, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility and the Senior Executives Associations, among others, said in a letter to congressional committee leaders. They suggested the lawmakers demand new appointments from Trump and consider “refusing to cooperate on key administration requests” until the White House puts forward qualified nominees for positions within their jurisdictions. 

The groups noted that more than one-in-four presidentially appointed, Senate-confirmed positions at the Homeland Security and Defense departments are currently vacant. Instead of qualified appointees, the groups said, positions sit empty or filled by individuals Trump installed by circumventing the Federal Vacancies Reform Act. 

DHS has not had a confirmed secretary in nearly a year, and the top posts at many of its components playing a key role in the pandemic response are currently filled by officials in acting capacities. At the Health and Human Services Department, the assistant secretary for planning and evaluation is temporary. The State Department maintains dozens of vacant ambassador positions and has no assistant secretary for European and Eurasian affairs. The groups noted that the two agencies most central to "general government functioning"—the Office of Personnel Management and the Office of Management and Budget—have acting leaders who are "but the latest in a long confusing line" of temporary officials.

Trump has faced criticism for flouting or exploiting the intent of vacancies law with his appointments for director of national intelligence, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services director, attorney general and others. At USCIS, a federal court has ruled that Ken Cuccinelli is illegally serving as its temporary director. Trump has had more acting cabinet officials than confirmed ones, unprecedented since at least President Reagan.

The non-profit organizations called on lawmakers to update vacancies law to close loopholes, such as one that allows the administration to bypass orders of succession by creating new positions that are second in command and do not require Senate confirmation. They also said Congress should demand more permanent leaders to avoid additional confusion over the legality of edicts issued by officials serving in acting capacities. 

“The Senate’s involvement is vital to achieve the needed improvements,” the groups said. “Presidential abuse of the vacancies process is not a novel concept, yet the stakes are incredibly high as our nation is on the front lines of a massive pandemic which requires an all-hands-on-deck approach.”