In August, President Obama signed into law the most important reform of the federal appointments process since 2004. S. 679, the Presidential Appointment Efficiency and Streamlining Act, was the result of many months of work by members of Congress and concerned citizens hoping to at least partially fix a broken system, in which systemic deficiencies often leave administrations operating without critical
personnel well into their first year.
The Institute’s Commission to Reform the Federal Appointments Process, led by White House alumni Clay Johnson and Mack McLarty, along with former Senators Bill Frist and Chuck Robb, played an important role in this effort, joining Senate and House leaders, fellow good government groups, and representatives from the White House and federal agencies to make reform a reality.
By the Commission’s count, 11 past commissions, committees, and working groups have tried to overhaul the appointments process over the past 30 years. Other than reports, conferences, and white papers, very little came of these efforts.
So why is this particular effort on the way to achieving significant reform? Importantly, Senate leadership indicated in 2011 that they too were committed to reform, as it could help them better fulfill their “advise and consent” duties. The Commission also made clear at its inception that it was interested in true reform, not another “blue ribbon” report: that it was determined to achieve change, not just call for change.
The Commission began with frank conversations with the White House, Congress, relevant federal agencies, and good government public interest groups on the topic of reform. The Commission and its partners discussed possible options, while keeping its most important goals in mind—preparing for presidential transitions more substantially and earlier and streamlining nominee application paperwork requirements. We then worked with Congress as they took the lead to craft reform legislation, advising on steps to reduce nominee paperwork, and helped build bipartisan support within a notoriously gridlocked Congress. The resulting bill—which passed with bipartisan support—implemented a much needed reduction in the number of support positions requiring Senate confirmation and sanctioned the creation of a “working group” to streamline nomination forms.
Passing S.679 was a shared achievement, with top credit owed to Congress’s decisive action and leadership. While there were notable hang-ups along the way—an unannounced recess appointment by the White House suddenly politicized a formerly quiet issue, halting progress for weeks—this engagement and consensus building worked. A rare result was finally achieved: significant legislation with bipartisan support, all at a time when Washington seems subsumed with hyper-partisanship.
Eric Motley is the vice president and executive director of the Commission to Reform the Federal Appointments Process as well as the managing director of the Institute’s Henry Crown Fellowship Program.
