{ "id": "R42963", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "number": "R42963", "active": true, "source": "EveryCRSReport.com, University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "versions": [ { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 433155, "date": "2014-07-30", "retrieved": "2016-04-06T20:13:29.446690", "title": "Nominations to Cabinet Positions During Inter-Term Transitions Since 1984", "summary": "Under the Constitution, high-level leadership positions in the executive branch are filled through appointment by the President \u201cby and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate.\u201d These posts include most of the approximately two dozen that form the President\u2019s Cabinet, which is an institution established by custom, rather than by law. In recent decades, it has become customary for each two-term President to reshuffle his Cabinet during the inter-term transition\u2014the transition that takes place at the end of a President\u2019s first term in office and beginning of his second term. Typically about half the Cabinet members change during this transition period. \nThe appointments process for Cabinet and other advice and consent positions is generally considered to have three stages. In the first stage, the White House selects and clears a prospective appointee before sending a formal nomination to the Senate. In the second stage, the Senate initially relies on its committees to investigate each nominee and conduct hearings before taking up and deciding whether to approve the nomination. The Senate historically has confirmed most, but not all, Cabinet nominations. In the final stage of the appointments process, the confirmed nominee is given a commission bearing the Great Seal of the United States and signed by the President.\nSince 1984, four two-term Presidents\u2014Ronald W. Reagan, William J. Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack H. Obama\u2014made 48 nominations to Cabinet positions during inter-term transitions. For the purposes of this report, CRS considered an inter-term nomination to be one made between November 1 of each President\u2019s reelection year and December 31 of the first year of his second term. In total, the Senate confirmed 46 of these 48 nominations; two nominations submitted by President Clinton were withdrawn during Senate consideration.\nThe duration of the appointments process, including the pace of Senate consideration, of these Cabinet nominations during inter-term transitions varied considerably. The mean (average) number of days elapsed from Senate receipt of Cabinet nominations during inter-term transitions to final action was 34.8. The median number of days from receipt to final action was 32.5. The Appendix of this report lists the data used to calculate these statistics.\nAs measured from the date of receipt in the Senate until the date of confirmation, the inter-term Cabinet nomination under Senate consideration for the shortest period was President Obama\u2019s nomination of former Senator John F. Kerry to be Secretary of State in 2013, which was confirmed after seven days. The nomination under Senate consideration for the longest period was President Obama\u2019s nomination in 2013 of Regina McCarthy to be Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, which was confirmed after 133 days.\nAnother method of measuring the duration of the appointments process during inter-term transitions is to measure the number of days elapsed using, as a starting point, the date of the President\u2019s announcement of his intention to nominate the individual, rather than receipt of the nomination in the Senate. The mean (average) number of days elapsed using this methodology was 61.6, and the median was 53.0.\nThis report will be updated as events warrant.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": true, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/R42963", "sha1": "6dbf39ea3456774bad136faf2f4002378c139d37", "filename": "files/20140730_R42963_6dbf39ea3456774bad136faf2f4002378c139d37.html", "images": null }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/R42963", "sha1": "cbffe0953bd7846273abab82b1895e347987ceb0", "filename": "files/20140730_R42963_cbffe0953bd7846273abab82b1895e347987ceb0.pdf", "images": null } ], "topics": [] }, { "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc461886/", "id": "R42963_2013Feb20", "date": "2013-02-20", "retrieved": "2014-12-05T09:57:41", "title": "Nominations to Cabinet Positions During Inter-Term Transitions Since 1984", "summary": "This report documents nominations to Cabinet positions during inter-term presidential transitions since 1984. During this period, three two-term Presidents \u2014 Ronald W. Reagan, William J. Clinton, and George W. Bush \u2014 made 30 nominations during inter-term transitions. For the purposes of this report, CRS considered an inter-term nomination to be one made between November 1 of a President's reelection year and April 30 of the first year of his second term.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORT", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "PDF", "filename": "files/20130220_R42963_244424b0ac201fba06a5cc624e6a9ad68d9c26a9.pdf" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/20130220_R42963_244424b0ac201fba06a5cc624e6a9ad68d9c26a9.html" } ], "topics": [ { "source": "LIV", "id": "Nominations for office", "name": "Nominations for office" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Advice and consent of the Senate", "name": "Advice and consent of the Senate" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Cabinet officers", "name": "Cabinet officers" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Executive departments", "name": "Executive departments" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Presidents", "name": "Presidents" } ] } ], "topics": [] }