The Senate took three months to confirm Dr. Robert Califf, after President Joe Biden had nominated him to lead the agency.
The political fights over Califf’s nomination are a reminder of the challenges Biden faces when filling key roles throughout his administration.
Biden could be hindered by the vacancy in the top-ranking executive positions. This could impact his ability to fight the pandemic and implement the $1 Trillion bipartisan infrastructure law, as well as boost the economy. Inflation levels are at an all-time high of 40 years.
Maya MacGuineas is president of the bipartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. She said that it is difficult to get appropriations done and there is talk of defaulting on the debt limit.
Partnership for Public Service, a non-profit organization that works to improve government effectiveness, has identified 70 top-ranking positions in the government, without any confirmed nominees, including the Department of Health and Human Services and the Treasury Department.
The White House attributes gridlock to Republicansin a divided Senate. However, it has also not submitted nominations for many open positions.
According to the White House, 569 people have been nominated by the Biden administration. 302 of them have been confirmed while 247 are still waiting for confirmation. This is out of 1,200 civilian posts that require Senate confirmation.
According to the Partnership for Public Service, 41% of Biden’s nominations were confirmed by the Senate in his first year. According to the Partnership for Public Service, 75% of George W. Bush’s nominees were confirmed during his first year. This compares with 69% for Barack Obama, and 57% for Donald Trump.
This group calls for a decrease in Senate-confirmed nominees. They state that disclosure and vetting requirements are becoming more complex and delay the Senate confirmation process.
“Wouldn’t it be better if it happened faster?” Jack Lew, former Treasury Secretary, said “Yes.” “Ideally, the confirmation process would have been streamlined.” However, he said that accountability must be established for these critical positions as well as a process for questioning nominees regarding their plans for the job.
Two months after Obama nominated Lew, the Senate confirmed him.
What does the vacancy mean for Biden’s policy priorities?
FISCAL POLICY CREATING
Five Senate-confirmed positions at the Treasury Department are vacant, including the undersecretary of international affairs and treasurer for the U.S.
The absence of an international affairs chief in the Treasury Department will make Secretary Janet Yellen’s efforts to implement a global corporate taxation deal more difficult.
According to Lew, Senate-confirmed staff with previous policymaking and government experience will help fill the vacancies.
He said, “If you take a look at the Treasury team, starting from the top, you’ll see the secretary and the deputy secretary with extensive experience in policymaking.” You have a lot more career talent which makes it easier to transition.
He stated that the key to filling vacant seats is “getting the congressional process working better.”
FIGHTING THE PANDEMIC
Two major science agencies at the Department of Health and Human Services are still without a permanent Senate-confirmed leader. This comes as the administration struggles to communicate the pandemic and is considering reopening the country.
The FDA is one of these agencies. Califf’s nomination was stalled in the Senate for months due to his work as a consultant for pharmaceutical companies and claims that he failed to regulate addictive opioids. Last week, he was only narrowly elected to the post. He had previously held it briefly under Obama.
The National Institutes of Health also lacks a director. However, budget uncertainty is a greater concern at the moment, according to Ellie Dehoney, top policy expert with Research!America. This nonprofit advocates for increased national spending on medical research and health.
She said, “They are constrained by an old budget and can’t launch new programmes very easily.”
Staff morale remains steady nonetheless. Dehoney stated that “what we’ve heard about NIH is a desire for stay, and especially to see this through,”
PLANS FOR IMPLEMENTING INFRASTRUCTURE
The Transportation Department has appointed acting heads at the Federal Highway Administration (Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration) and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration). These two agencies are at the forefront in promoting road safety while the department launches a national strategy to prevent record increases of traffic fatalities. After the Feb. 2 committee approval, Steven Cliff, Biden’s nominee to lead the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is still awaiting Senate confirmation.
The nominee for the head of Pipeline Hazardous Materials Safety Administration is not yet available. There will be a vacancy for the head of Federal Aviation Administration, after Stephen Dickson’s retirementon March 31.
The highway agency’s deputy administrator, Stephanie Pollack (a former Massachusetts state transportation secretary), is responsible for implementing the provisions of Biden’s new infrastructure law. She assists in the issuance of guidance to states regarding highway money use and grants to promote safety.
Biden’s pick for administrator at the motor carrier agency that regulates the trucking sector was lost when Meera Joshi resigned to become a New York Mayor Eric Adams’ assistant secretary for safety policy. Robin Hutcheson was recently appointed acting administrator by the department’s deputy assistant secretary for safety policies.
Jonathan Adkins, executive Director of the Governors Highway Safety Association which represents state safety officers, expressed concern over the inability of the acting heads of state safety offices to get work done effectively.
He said that acting leaders tend to have less staff and are less visible publicly. The motor carrier agency currently has several proposed truck safety regulations to finish. They are also working on changes that will ease congestion in the U.S. Supply Chain. In the meantime, the highway agency is pushing states and localities towards implementing changes in road design and speed limits to reduce deaths.
EXPLORING GUN CONTROL
Biden had nominated David Chipman as the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ head. However, the former ATF agent and gun control advocate faced resistance in the Senate and was viewed as one of the most controversial nominees in the administration. The nomination was withdrawn.
Both Republican and Democratic administrations continued to withdraw from the politically difficult position that was confirmed in 2006. Only one nomination, ex-U.S. Attorney B. Todd Jones has been confirmed since then. Jones was confirmed by the Senate in 2013, but it took six months for him to get there. Jones was the acting director when Obama nominated Jones in January 2013.
Trump withdrew Chuck Canterbury’s nomination as president of the Fraternal Ord of Police in 2020 due to Republican concerns over his gun rights stance.
Jen Psaki, White House press secretary, stated that “our collective view is that the blocking ATF agents who are fully qualified and experienced from serving in this role certainly is something Republicans didn’t have to make the step to do but here we were.” She didn’t blame Democrats who said they wouldn’t vote for him. “So, we must nominate a person. When the president has found the right person, I’m certain he will be ready to do it.”
MacGuineas of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget stated that the slow nomination process is due to a “failure in governance”.
She stated that “people have been nominated who were too controversial to be nominated or the White House knows they will be held up.” “The current organization is extremely inefficient, with Congress deeply polarized.
