Transition lag could keep Clinton appointees in office

A federal law prohibiting nominees from acting in agency leadership positions could be problematic for Texas Gov. George W. Bush, assuming he is the President-elect, government and public policy leaders said Wednesday. Bush needs to send his nominations to the Senate for his administration's sub-Cabinet level jobs as soon as possible to avoid vacancy problems, said members of a panel discussion on the appointments process. The panel included former political appointees and transition experts; it was sponsored by the Council for Excellence in Government. "We are not at risk of being a headless government, but rather a neckless one," said Paul C. Light, senior advisor to the Presidential Appointee Initiative, referring to the time it takes to get sub-Cabinet level appointees confirmed and in place at their agencies. The Presidential Appointee Initiative is a project of the Brookings Institution. C. Boyden Gray, White House counsel under President George Bush and an adviser to the 1988 Bush transition team, said the problem lies with the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998. The law revised the 1868 Vacancies Act, which was designed to prevent the President from circumventing the Senate's authority to confirm political appointees. The 1998 act allows acting officials to serve for 210 days in positions requiring Senate confirmation. Once the President submits his nomination to the Senate, however, the person acting can serve for as long as the nomination is pending. Under the law, the President cannot temporarily appoint someone who has not served in an executive agency during the last year, either as a political appointee or a career employee. "This new law could create a problem for Bush, assuming he is the President-elect. He will either have to deal with Clinton [administration] carryovers, or bureaucrats running the agencies," Gray said. "However, career bureaucrats are extremely capable and would love the opportunity to work directly for the President," Gray said. Clinton administration appointees had to submit their official resignations to the President by Dec. 12. Diana Huffman, a former staff director of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said that the President-elect's priority nominees need to be confirmed by June 2001, since the Senate may have to deal with Supreme Court vacancies and nominations by then. Both Huffman and Constance Horner, former Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services, said the President-elect should submit his nominations quickly to kick-off the confirmation process and buy more time for acting agency officials.