By Mark Gomez / Shutterstock.com

GSA Holds the Key to When or If Biden Gets Access to Full Transition Resources

With President Trump’s campaign threatening lawsuits, it is unclear when GSA would grant access to full transition resources.  

The major news outlets on Saturday morning declared former Vice President Joe Biden the victor of the presidential election, but the transition process cannot formally begin until the head of the General Services Administration gives the green light.

Although the final count was still being tallied over the weekend in several battleground states, Biden’s win in Pennsylvania with its 20 electoral college votes ensured he would prevail. Nonetheless, President Trump issued a statement disputing the call and said, “Beginning Monday, our campaign will start prosecuting our case in court to ensure election laws are fully upheld and the rightful winner is seated.” 

The Electoral College is set to meet on December 14 and Inauguration Day is January 20. 

While the Biden team has been working with the Trump administration for months on the transition and launched its transition website on Wednesday, it does not yet have access to all the transition resources the president elect is entitled to—that determination will be made by GSA Administrator Emily Murphy. 

“In accordance with the Presidential Transition Act of 1963, as amended, the GSA administrator ascertains the apparent successful candidate once a winner is clear based on the process laid out in the Constitution,” a GSA spokesperson told Government Executive on Friday. “The administrator’s ascertainment is done for the purposes of making services provided by the [transition act] available. Until an ascertainment is made, the statute allows for the Biden transition team to continue to receive the pre-elect services from the government (e.g., limited office space, computers, background investigations for security clearances). GSA has met all statutory requirements under the [transition act] for this election cycle and will continue to do so.” 

Post-election activities for an incoming administration include: sending agency review teams to visit the agencies, making personnel and Cabinet appointment decisions, and cultivating policy and management agendas, as the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service outlined in its 2020 transition guide. 

GSA would need to ascertain a winner before Biden could send teams into the agencies, obtain briefing books prepared mainly by career civil servants and receive access to certain facilities and funds. In its required report to Congress six months out from the election, GSA noted it requested $9.9 million for transition-related activities ($6.3 million of which is designated for a potential new administration), which was included in the continuing resolution enacted on Sept. 30. GSA manages the funds on behalf of the incoming administration, but the funding would become available to Biden only after “the administrator ascertains an apparent winner of the general election that is not the incumbent,” said GSA. 

“There don’t seem to be standards for how and when [the ascertainment] needs to happen,” Don Kettl, the Sid Richardson professor at the University of Texas at Austin’s Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, told Government Executive. “GSA has been supporting the candidates up to Election Day. The government’s support of the transition, however, can’t begin until the GSA administrator authorizes it.” 

There don’t seem to be standards for how and when [the ascertainment] needs to happen.
Don Kettl

He continued, “Given the fact that there’s such discretion in the process, the core question is this: Will the administrator turn on the transition as soon as the networks call the election? If the networks call Biden as the winner, will the administrator launch the transition if the case is still in the courts? Or might the administrator, perhaps, wait until the Electoral College meets and decides, on the grounds that the decision would be contested until that vote is taken?” 

Laws have been enacted over the last 20 years to give candidates more support ahead of the election and allowed for the Biden team to continue its transition work without being declared the winner on Tuesday night. Many experts and former transition officials told Government Executive they believe his team will be ready if he wins. 

A Potentially Tricky Decision

GSA Administrator Emily Murphy was confirmed unanimously in December 2017 and has since been in charge of overseeing 11,200 employees nationwide, over 370 million square feet of government real estate and about $75 billion in annual contracts. She’s come under fire from House Democrats for GSA allegedly having relaxed oversight of the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., which is in a GSA-leased building, and her involvement with the White House in the controversial decisions about the FBI’s new headquarters

There was similar attention about GSA’s role in the transition process in 2016 when Trump suggested before winning that he might contest the results of the election. Additionally, in 2000––the last time there was a delay in presidential election results––lawmakers grappled with the same questions during a hearing on December 4, 2000, eight days before the Supreme Court declared George W. Bush the winner. 

“The outcome of this [2000] election remains in doubt due to the fact that both campaigns have brought forth legal cases that are pending in both state and federal courts,” said then-Rep. Jim Turner, R-Texas. “I fully appreciate the need for our next president-elect to begin a comprehensive transition to ensure that government operations continue running smoothly, yet we should not allow haste to distort our view or our implementation of the Presidential Transition Act. If the administrator of the GSA were to incorrectly release funds to one campaign under the act, aside from breaking the law, it could result in a loss of public funds, waste, duplication, diminished credibility for the winner and a breach of proprietary information.”

GSA ended up waiting until December 14, 2000, to turn over the keys and funds—after the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Republicans and Democratic candidate Al Gore had conceded.  

Besides the question of when the transition would officially begin if Biden wins, there are also concerns about how much the Trump administration would cooperate with a potential incoming Biden administration. 

The Trump administration met its statutory deadlines ahead of the election, but in September Trump did not commit to a peaceful transfer of power (asserting his false claims that vote-by-mail is susceptible to widespread fraud) and at his recent rallies indicated he wouldn’t cooperate with the Biden team on a potential transition. As the vote counting continues, he has said Democrats are engaging in fraud and “stealing” the election from him, though he has not advanced specific and credible claims of improprieties. 

The story and headline, first published Friday afternoon, were updated to reflect developments on Saturday.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.