Presidential Appointment Efficiency and Streamlining Act of 2011

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1

99010

SENATE" !112 TH Congress

1st S ession

REPORT

2011

11224

Calendar No. 75

PRESIDENTIAL APPOINTMENT EFFICIENCY

AND STREAMLINING ACT OF 2011

R E P O R T

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND

GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS

UNITED STATES SENATE

TO ACCOMPANY

S. 679

TO REDUCE THE NUMBER OF EXECUTIVE POSITIONS SUBJECT TO

SENATE CONFIRMATION

J UN E 21, 2011.Ordered to be printed

VerDate Mar 15 2010 09:06 Jun 24, 2011 Jkt 099010 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5012 Sfmt 5012 E:\HR\OC\SR024.XXX SR024


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(II)

COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS

JOSEP H I. LIEBERMAN, Connecticut, Chairman

CARL LEVIN, MichiganDANIEL K. AKAKA, HawaiiTHOMAS R. CARPER, DelawareMARK L. PRYOR, ArkansasMARY L. LANDRIEU, LouisianaCLAIRE MCCASKILL, MissouriJON TESTER, MontanaMARK BEGICH, Alaska

SUSAN M. COLLINS, MaineTOM COBURN, OklahomaSCOTT P. BROWN, MassachusettsJOHN MCCAIN, ArizonaRON JOHNSON, WisconsinROB PORTMAN, OhioRAND PAUL, KentuckyJERRY MORAN, Kansas

MICHAEL L. ALEXANDER, St aff DirectorBET H M. GROSSMAN, Deputy Staff Director and Chief CounselKRISTINE V. LAM, Professional S taff MemberN ICHOLAS A. ROSSI, Minority Staff Director

MOLLY A. WILKINSON, Minority General CounselJ ENNIFER L. TARR , Minority Counsel

TRINA DRIESSNACK TYRER, Chief Clerk



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Calen dar No. 75112TH CONGRESS SENATE REPORT

" !1st S ession 11224

PRESIDENTIAL APPOINTMENT EFFICIENCY AND

STREAMLINING ACT OF 2011

J UN E 21, 2011.Ordered t o be print ed

Mr. LIEBERMAN, from the Committee on Homeland Security and

Governmental Affairs, submitted the following

R E P O R T

[To accompan y S. 679]

The Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs,to which was referred the bill (S. 679) to reduce the number of ex-ecutive positions subject to confirmation, reports favorably thereonwith an amendment and r ecommends t hat the bill do pass.

CONTENTS

Page

I. Pur pose an d Summ ary .................................................................................. 1II. Ba ckground an d Need for Legislation .......................................................... 2

III. Legislat ive Hist ory ......................................................................................... 10IV. Section-by-Section Analysis .......................................................................... 11V. Eva lua tion of Regula tory Impa ct .................................................................. 16

VI. Congressional Budget Office Est imat e ......................................................... 16VII. Changes in Existing Law Made by the Bill, as Reported ... .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 17

I. PURPOSE AND SUMMARY

The P residential Appoint ment Efficiency an d St ream lining Act of2011 seeks to reduce the burdens and improve the efficiency of theappointment process for executive branch officials. It does so byeliminating the requirement for Senate confirmation for over 200

executive branch positions for which the Committee has deter-mined, based on the work of a leadership-commissioned Senateworking group, th at such confirmat ion is u nn ecessary. The bill alsoestablishes an executive branch working group to study and reporton the streamlining of paperwork required for executive nomina-tions and the impact of background investigation requirements onthe appointments process.



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1 Report of the National Commission on the Public Service. Urgent Bu siness for America: Revi-talizing the Federal Government for the 21st Century, January 2003, p. 18. Available at ht tp:/ / www.brookings.edu/ gs/ cps/ volcker/ reportfinal.pdf, last accessed May 3, 2011 [hereinafterVolcker Report]. The Commission, first const itut ed in 1987, is comm only referred to as th eVolcker Commission.

2 Maeve P. Carey and Henry B. Hogue, Congressional Research Service, Memorandum to Sen-ate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Number of Executive Branch Advice and Consent Positions at the Outset of S elected Presidential Ad min istrations (May 6,2011). CRS based its analysis on positions listed in several editions of United States Govern-ment Policy an d Support Positions, commonly known a s th e Plum Book.

3 Henry B. Hogue, Maureen Bearden, Betsy Palmer, Congressional Research Service, R40119Filling Advice and Consent Positions at the Outset of a New Administration (2010) [hereinafter,CRS Report R40119]; see also Volcker Report, pp. 1819 (finding that the time to fill political

positions has expanded exponentially in recent d ecades an d including a graph , based on cal-culations by the Presidential Appointee Initiative at the Brookings Institution, of the averagetimes to complete an initial appointment from the Kennedy Administration to the George W.Bush administration).

4 Henry B. H ogue an d Maeve P. Car ey, Congressional Research Service, Memorandum to Sen-ate Committee on Homeland Security and Government al Affairs, Appointments to Full-time Ex-ecutive Branch Advice and Consent Positions During the First 100 Days of the Obama Adminis-tration (June 10, 2009).

5 William A. Galston and E.J. Dionne, Jr., A Half-Emp ty Government Can t Govern: Why E v-eryone Wants to Fix the Appointments Process, Why it Never Happens, and How We Can GetIt Done, Brookings Inst itut ion (December 14, 2010) [hereinafter , Galst on an d Dionne].

6 S ee CRS Report R40119, pp. 1112.

II. BACKGROUND AND

NEED FOR

LEGISLATION

In a 2003 report, the bipartisan National Commission on the

Public Service, headed by Paul Volcker, observed, Contemporarypresidents face two daunting difficulties in filling the top posts intheir administrations: the number of appointments is very large,an d th e appointm ent s process is very slow.1 This is equally if notmore true today, and particularly true of the subset of presidentialappointments that require Senate confirmation.

According to information compiled by the Congressional ResearchService (CRS), the past fifty years has brought a steady growth inthe number of presidential appointees who must face Senate con-firmation. When President Kennedy entered office, he had 850 Sen-ate-confirmed positions to fill. That number had increased to 1143by the time President George W. Bush took office, and by the be-ginning of the Obama Administration, there were 1215 executive

bran ch positions subject to Sena te confirmat ion.2

At the same timeand perhaps not surprisingly in light of theincrease in the nominations workload for both the Senate and theexecutive branchthe time it takes to fill Senate-confirmed posi-tions has been getting longer. Overall, the median time to con-firmation, according to data provided by CRS, has increased sub-stantially since the Reagan Administration, jumping in both theClinton and George W. Bush administrations before leveling offthu s far in th e Obama Administrat ion.3 That level is unfortunatelynot an impressive one: only 14 percent of full-time Senate-con-firmed positions had been filled at the end of the first 100 days ofthe Obama Administration,4 and, according to one review, even 18month s into th e Administrat ion, a quar ter of key policy-ma king po-sitions r equiring Sena te confirm ation rem ained u nfilled.5

As one would expect, the length of time to fill positions varieswith t he level and n at ure of th e position: initial nominees for Ca bi-net-level positions during a Presidential transition have typicallybeen selected, vetted, considered and confirmed expeditiously whileinitial nominees to subcabinet positionsDeputy Secretaries,Under Secretaries and certain Assistant Secretarieshave takensignificantly longer.6 A law review ana lysis of president ial appoint-



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7 Anne Joseph OConnell, Vacant Offices: Delays in Staffing Top Agency Positions, 82 S. Cal.L. Rev. 913, 967 (2009) [her eina fter , OConne ll].

8 S ee, e.g., Galst on and Dionne, p. 8. As th e Volcker Report pu t it (at p. 20), the p residen tialappointments process simply cannot keep u p with the burden of filling all these positions withproperly qua lified leaders in a t imely way.

9 Volcker Report, p. 18. The report notes t hat th ese include extensive vett ing, lengthy int er-views, background checks, examinations of government computer records, completion of ques-tionnaires and forms composed of hundreds of questions, FBI full-field investigations, public fi-nan cial disclosure, and conflicts of interest an alysisand th at m uch of th e process is duplicated

when a nomination goes to the Senate. See also Statement of Max Stier (President and CEO,Partnership for Public Service), Hearing before the Senate Committee on Homeland Securityand Government al Affairs, Eliminating The Bottlenecks: Streamlining The Nominations Process(March 2, 2011) [hereinafter, HSGAC March 2011 hearing], p. 3 (describing an onerous vet-ting process and a sserting th at the a lready-stringent standa rds of the Obama personnel oper-at ion tightened furt her after some high-profile appointees r an int o difficulties durin g the Sen-ate confirmation process).

10 S ee Statement of Norman J. Ornstein (Resident Scholar, American Enterprise Institute),HSGAC March 2011 hearing (noting that the Senate took an average of 60.8 days to confirmPresident Obam as nominees in the a dministrat ions first year, compared to an average of 48.9days for President Clinton and 57.9 days for President George W. Bush), p. 1.

11 S ee Galston and Dionne, p. 8.

ments between 1987 and 2005 found that it took presidents an av-erage of only 17 days from the time of a vacancy to nominate aCabinet Secretary and the Senate an average of only 16 days toconfirm the nominee. For lower-level nominees, though, a differentpicture emerged: it took presidents an average of 95 days to nomi-nate Deputy Cabinet Secretaries and the Senate 62 days to confirmthem, while noncabinet agency heads waited an average of 173days for nomination and 63 additional days for confirmation. Non-cabinet agency deputy heads fared even worse, seeing an averageof 301 days pass before nomination and 82 additional days beforeconfirmation.7

Moreover, as these figures suggest, although Senate delays dur-ing the confirmation process (including holds placed on nomineesby individual Senators) receive most of the public attention, it istypically the presidential selection and vetting process that con-sumes the majority of the time from vacancy to appointment. In ex-

plaining these delays, observers have noted that the large numberof appointments that need to be made at the outset of a new ad-ministration can overwhelm the resources available to the execu-tive to review and vet them.8 Others have pointed to the ever ex-panding set of information that administrations seek from nomi-neeswhat the Volcker Commission described as a steady accu-mulation of inquiries, investigations, and reviews aimed at avoid-ing political embarrassment.9 Although the length of time re-quired for the Senate to act on nominations has also been increas-ing,10 a recent Brookings report pointed out that, in each of thelast four administrations, the average time for sending nominationsto the Senate was between two and three times as long as the gapbetween receipt of nominations and confirmation in the Senate. Asa result, even if the Senate acted on every nomination within amonth, the time needed to fill positions would decline by less than

20 percent .11The expanding numbers of Senate-confirmed positions to be filled

and the delays in filling them have inexorably led to a great in-crease in vacanciesa situation that cannot help but yield signifi-cant consequences for government administration and policy mak-ing. The implications have been most stark at the outset of a newadministration, when incoming presidents may have to addresscritical economic or national security challenges with many key pol-



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12 National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, The 9/ 11 Comm issionReport, p. 422 (2004).

13 S ee Statement of Max Stier, HSGAC March 2011 hearing, p. 1; see also Galston and Dionne,p. 1; OConnell, p. 917.

14 David Lewis, The Politics of Presidential Appointments Political Control and BureaucraticPerformance, p. 151 (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton Univ. Press, 2008).

15 S ee e.g. Matthew Dull and Patrick S. Roberts, Continuity, Competence, and the Successionof Senate-Confirmed Agency Appointees, 19892009, 39 Pres. Stud. Q. 432, 436 (2009) (findinga median tenure of 2.5 years for appointees who served under President H. W. Bush or Presi-

dent Clinton); Matthew J. Dickinson and Kathryn Dunn Tenpas, Explaining Increasing Turn-over R ates Am ong Presidential Advisers, 19291997, 64 J . Pol. 434 (2002).

16 OConnell, pp. 96265.17 S ee OConnell, pp. 93552 for a genera l discussion of some of the implications of vacancies

in Senate-confirmed positions.18 National Academy of Public Administration, Revitalizing Federal Management: Managers

and Their Overburdened S ystems (1983).19 National Academy of Public Administration, Leadership in Jeopardy: The Fraying of the

Presidential Appointments System (1985).20 National Commission on Public Service, Leadership for America: Rebuilding the Public S erv-

ice (1989).21 Volcker Report .

icy positions unfilled. The 9/11 Commission recognized this in itsreport, noting that the George W. Bush Administration did nothave its national security team, including critical subcabinet offi-cials, confirmed and on the job until at least six months after ittook office, and it recommended steps to accelerate the process fornational security appointments so as to minimize the disruption ofnational security policymaking during the change in administra-tions.12 A number of commentators have pointed out that PresidentObama s Secreta ry of th e Treasu ry ha d to operat e without othersenior appointees in the Treasury Department at the height of thefinancial crisis; strikingly, it took four months to appoint a DeputySecretary of the Treasury.13 And, looking back further, some havenoted how difficulties in t he wa ke of Hurr ican e Hu go, which str uckSouth Carolina in September 1989, nine months into the GeorgeH.W. Bush Administration, were exacerbated by the fact that only

one of the eight Senate-confirmed positions at the Federal Emer-gency Mana gement Agency were filled at th e time.14Problems caused by delays in the appointments process extend

beyond the start of an administration, even if that is when they aremost noticeable. When the typically short tenure of political ap-pointees 15 is coupled with the delays in nomination and confirma-tion, the result is frequent, extended vacancies in Senate-confirmedpositions throughout the course of an Administration. In fact, ac-cording to one analysis, Senate-confirmed positions are empty (orfilled by acting officials) on average as much as one-quarter of thetime.16 These widespread vacancies can have a significant, detri-ment al impact on t he a bility of a p resident to car ry out h is policies,as well as on agencies ability to determine policy and take action.The absence of accountable political leadership at departments andagencies can also have a detrimental impact on the ability of Con-

gress to oversee agencies.17

The need for reforms in the federal appointments process is nota new topic. In the past three decades, an abundance of commis-sions, academics, think tanks, and good government groups haveturned their sights on this problem. These include: the NationalAcademy of Public Administration (in 1983 18 and 1985 19); the Na-tional Commission on the Public Service (1989 20 and 2003 21); thePr esidents Commission on the Federa l Appointmen ts Pr ocess



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22 Pr esident s Comm ission on the Feder al Appointm ent Pr ocess, Th e Report of the PresidentsComm ission on the Federal Appointment Process (1990).

23 National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and Institute of Medicine,Science and Technology Leadership in American Government: Ensuring the Best Presidential Ap-pointments (1992).

24 The Century F oundation 20th Centur y Task Force on th e Presidential Appointment Process,Obstacle Course (1996).

25 The Pr esidential Appointee Initiat ive, To Form a Government: A Bipartisan Plan to Improvethe Presidential App ointments Process, Brookings Institution (April 2001); see generally Alvin S.Felzenberg, Fixing the Appointments Process: What the Reform Commissions Saw, Brookings In-stitution (2001). Available at http:/ / www.brookings.edu/ articles/ 2001/ springl govern-ancelfelzenberg.aspx, accessed May 3, 2011.

26 Part nership for Public Service,Ready to Govern: Imp roving the Presidential Tran sition (Jan-uary 2010).

27 The Aspen Institute has compiled a list of past commissions and reports as well as histor-ical summaries of previous commission which have addressed the presidential appointmentsprocess. Available at http:/ / www.aspeninstitute.org/ policy-work/ comm ission-appointments/Historical%20Su mm aries%20of%20Past%20Comm issions%20and%20Reports.

28 Hearing before the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs, Th e State of the Presi-dential Appointm ents Process, S. Hr g. 107118 (2001).

29 P.L. 106293 (codified at 3 U.S.C. 102 note). The law a lso sought t o help political appointeesquickly get up to speed by encouraging briefings, training and other orientation activities forprospective appointees and providing for a transition directory, to be developed by the Adminis-trator of General Services Administration, with information on the functions, organization andresponsibilities of each departm ent and agency.

30 S. 1811, 107th Congress.

(1990)22

; the National Academies of Sciences and Engineering andthe Institute of Medicine (1992) 23; the Twentieth Century Fund(1996) 24; the Brookings In stitut ions P residential Appoint ee Initia-tive (co-chaired by former Senator Nancy Kassebaum and formerDirector of the Office of Management and Budget Franklin Raines)(2001).25 More recently, the Partnership for Public Service haslooked closely at these issues,26 as has the Commission to Reformthe Federa l Appointm ents Pr ocess, a joint effort of th e Aspen Inst i-tute and Rockefeller Foundation, co-chaired by Clay Johnson,former Assistant to the President for Presidential Personnel, MackMcLarty, former White House Chief of Staff, and former SenatorsBill Frist and Chuck Robb. These groups have consistently foundthat the process for identifying, nominating, and confirming an in-dividual to a Senate-confirmed position has gradually lengthened,become more burdensome, and has discouraged qualified individ-uals from seeking nominations. Many of the same recommenda-

tions have also been repeatedly made, including streamlining thenomination process with respect to financial disclosure and stand-ardized forms and reducing the number of positions requiring Sen-ate confirmat ion.27

This Committee has sought over the years to reform the appoint-ments process. In April 2001, the Committee (then known as theSenate Committee on Governmental Affairs) held a two-day hear-ing titled The State of the Presidential Appointments Process atwhich the witnesses raised many of the same issues that continueto be discussed today.28 The previous year, the Committee had re-ported out the Presidential Transition Act of 2000, which was ulti-mately enacted into law and required, among other things, that theOffice of Government Ethics (OGE) study and report on possibleimprovements to the financial disclosure process, which was seenas presenting potential barriers to public service.29 A subsequent

bill, the Presidential Appointments Improvement Act of 2002,30

sought to implement OGE s recommen dat ions for st ream lining thefinancial disclosure process for presidential appointees and well asother executive branch employees. It also required the ExecutiveClerk of the White House to transmit a list of all presidentially ap-



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31 P.L. 108458.32 P.L. 108458, 7601, 8403, codified at 3 U.S.C. 102 note and 5 U.S.C. 1101 note.33 P.L. 111283.34 157 Cong. Rec. S15. (January 5, 2011) (statements of Senators Reid and McConnell). The

working group also produced S. Res. 116, reported out of the Committee on Rules and Adminis-tration on May 12, 2011. S. Res. 116 prescribes expedited procedures for Senate considerationof nominees to part-time, bipartisan boards and commissions. Nominations for these positionsare consider ed privileged nomina tions and are placed in a new section of the E xecutive Cal-endar when the nomination is received in the Senate rather than being referred to committee.The nomination remains in this section until ten days after the nominee submits biographicaland financial information to the committee of jurisdiction. During this time any Senator mayrequest th e nomination be referred to committ ee. If this does not happen, t he nomination is th enplaced on th e Executive Calendar awaiting Senat e confirmation.

pointed positions to all presidential candidates in order to speedthe identification and vetting of major presidential nominees, andrequired that each agency prepare a plan to reduce both the num-ber and layers of Senate-confirmed presidential appointees withinthe agency. Although the Committee favorably reported the bill,the full Senat e never considered it.

The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004(IRTPA),31 reported by this Committee and enacted in response tothe recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, included a numberof provisions intended to address the Commissions concerns aboutpotential disruptions to national security policy making duringpresidential transitions and the need to allow new appointees to as-sume their positions, and get up to speed, as quickly as possible.Among other things, it provided for the expedited processing of se-curity clearances for potential nominees for high-level national se-curity positions; expressed the Sense of the Senate that nomina-

tions for national security positions be submitted by InaugurationDay and voted on by the Senate within 30 days thereafter; and re-quired that each agency submit a plan for reducing the number ofpositions in t he a gency requiring Sen ate confirmat ion.32

Most recently, the Pre-Election Presidential Transition Act of2010,33 was favorably reported by voice vote out of the Committeeand enacted into law. It seeks to reduce the delays in the appoint-ment process in the early months of an administration by adoptingmeasures to encourage presidential candidates, as well as outgoingadm inistra tions, to begin plann ing for the tra nsition (including pos-sible nominations) even before Election Day.

S. 679, the Pr esidential Appointmen t E fficiency and Str eamliningAct, follows and expands on these previous, measured efforts. Al-though reported from this Committee, it is the product of a Senate-wide process, which resulted from the decision of Majority Leader

Reid and Minority Leader McConnell to form a Senate workinggroup, led by Rules Committee Chairman Schumer and RankingMinority Member Alexander, to examine the appointments processand ways to improve, streamline, and in some cases eliminate con-firmations for lower level nominees.34

The P residential Appoint ment Efficiency an d St ream lining Act of2011, together with S. Res. 116, reported out of the Committee onRules and Administration on May 12, 2011, is the result of theSenate working groups study of the appointments process. S. 679scentral provisions eliminate the requirement of Senate confirma-tion for 220 presidentially appointed executive branch positionsacross the federal government. Most of these positions fall into oneof four categories: 1) Legislative and Public Affairs positions; 2) in-ternal management positions such as Chief Financial Officers and



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35 S ee, e.g., David Addington, Speed Up Nominations and Confirmations But Do Not EnactS.679, Heritage Foundation Web Memo (April 1, 2011). Available at ht tp:/ / th flmedia.s3.amazonaws.com/ 2011/ pdf/ wm3211.pdf, accessed June 10, 2011.

36 U.S. Constitution, art. II, 2, cl. 2.37Edmond v. Un ited S tates, 520 U.S. 65, 663 (1997).

Chief Information Officers; 3) Directors, Administrators, Commis-sioners or other positions at or below the Assistant Secretary levelthat report to a Senate-confirmed Assistant Secretary or other Sen-ate-confirmed position and/or are responsible for a relatively smalloffice; 4) members of part-time boards and commissions that playadvisory-only roles. In addition, the bill eliminates Senate con-firmation for the appointment and promotion of approximately6500 Public Health Service commissioned officers and over 300members of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric AdministrationOfficer Corps.

Eliminating confirmation for such non-policymaking or lowerlevel positions will help reverse the growth in the overall numberof Senate-confirmed positions. It will also free up resources withinthe White House, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), OGE andthe Senate that can instead be focused on vetting, clearing, andconfirming nominees for higher level positionsand thereby, it is

hoped, speed up th e appointmen ts pr ocess for those nominees.In the debate over improving the nominations process, some have

expressed the view that, by eliminating the confirmation require-ment for certain positions, the Senate would be abdicating its con-stitutional responsibilities for confirmation of nominees and, moregenerally, for oversight of the executive branch.35 The Committeedisagrees. The Constitu tions Appointmen ts Clause pr ovides tha tthe P resident

shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consentof the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other publicMinisters and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, andall other Officers of the United States, whose Appoint-ments are not herein otherwise provided for, and whichshall be established by Law: but the Congress may by Lawvest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they

think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law,or in the Heads of Departments.36

The Constitution thus specifically contemplates that Congressmay choose not to require Senate confirmation for inferior Offi-cersdescribed by the Supreme Court as officers whose work isdirected and supervised at some level by others who were ap-pointed by presidential nomination with the advice and consent ofthe Senat e37and provides that Congress may decide whether ornot to require confirmation as they think proper. S. 679, by vest-ing the appointment of certain inferior officers in the Presidentalone, fits squarely within the dictates of the Appointments Clause.By passing S. 679, the Senate, rather than abdicating its constitu-tional responsibility for confirmation, would be choosing to exerciseit responsibly, reserving this power for senior, policymaking posi-tions.

Nor does the Committee believe that in reducing the number ofSenate-confirmed positions in the executive branch the Senatewould somehow be foregoing its more general responsibility to over-see executive departments and agencies, or otherwise inappropri-



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38 Some concern ha s been expressed th at, with out Senat e confirmation, it would be more dif-ficult to get appointees to testify before Congress. It is true that many nominees, in the courseof their confirmations, are required by Committees to agree to testify before Congress and toreply to requests for information once confirmed. It is also true, however, that executive branchofficials, whether or not confirmed, are expected to respond to reasonable requests of Congressto appear and testify and to provide information. Congress has the ability in most instances tocompel witness testimony, and officials in non-Senate-confirmed positions (at least those outsidecertain sections of the Executive Office of the President) regularly testify before Congress.

39 Established in 1997, the nonpartisan White House Transition Project is a combined effortof scholars, universities, and policy institutions to study and make recommendations for a presi-

dential transition. It provides resources such as institutional memory, perspective on past tran-sitions and research covering aspects of transitions and governing to presidential campaigns,president elect, and new administrations. It also provides analysis on the appointments processand acts as a clearinghouse on other transition resources. Additional information can be foundat the Projects website http:/ / whitehousetransitionproject.org/

40 Terry Sullivan, Reducing the Adv ersarial Burden on Presidential Appointees: Feasible Strat-egies for Fixing the Presidential Appointments Process, Public Administration Review, pp. 11261127 (November/December 2009) [hereinafter, Sullivan]; see also Statement of Max Stier,HSGAC March 2011 hear ing, p. 3. (the vett ing process is onerous a nd requ ires th ree length yquestionnaires and detailed financial and tax information in addition to an FBI backgroundcheck and additional Senate questionnaires and disclosure requirements on a wide range ofissues).

ately transferring power from the legislative to the executivebranch. The Senate would retain all its considerable oversight toolsfor ensuring agency accountabilityincluding the ability to holdhearings, subpoena witnesses and documents, require reports fromagencies, an d r equest Governmen t Accoun tability Office au dits a ndinvestigations. And it would continue to exercise its power to ad-vise and consent on approximately 1000 executive branch posi-tionsamong them the positions to which report those 200 or sonominees who would no longer themselves have to be confirmed.The Committee does not expect the reduction in the number ofSenate-confirmed appointments to have any adverse impact onSenate committees ability to conduct thorough oversight of agen-cies and departments or conduct investigations when appropriate.38Indeed, with fewer nominees to consider, Senate committees maywell have more time available to focus on other legislative andoversight activities.

In addition to reducing the number of Senate-confirmed posi-tionsan aspect of nominations reform that Congress can effec-tuate through legislationS. 679 also includes provisions designedto encourage both the executive and legislative branches to con-sider ways of streamlining other aspects of the nominations proc-ess. Of particular concern are the numerous, duplicative, and time-consuming forms that potential nominees are required to fill out.A study by Terry Sullivan, Executive Director of the White HouseTransition Project,39 found that nominees face a range of entitiesto which they must report and a dazzling array of questions theymust answer. Most nominees submit to at least four reviews, eachrepr esent ed by a separ at e packet of govern men t form s includinga White House Personal Data Statement, a questionnaire from theFBI (SF86), another package from the Office of Government Eth-ics (SF278), and at least one questionnaire from the Senate com-

mittee of jurisdiction.40 In studying these questionnaires, Sullivanfound about half of the questions that nominees answer involverecurring questions (those designat ed to be redun dan t a nd r epet-itive), with two-thirds of these questions being redundant ( i.e.,questions tha t do not vary th e detail required such a s a n omineessocial security number) with the rest being repetitive (i.e., similarquestions ask ed different ly such as a nominees pr opert y owner-



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41 S ee Sullivan, p. 1127.42 Sullivan, pp. 11311132; see also Galston and Dionne, p. 14 (suggesting the process can be

significant ly improved by inst itut ing un iform form s for a ll Senat e commit tees of jurisdictionover nominees. . . . better still would be a single form agreed upon between the White Houseand t he Senat e); Statement of the Honorable Clay J ohnson III (former Assistant to the Presi-dent for Presidential Personnel, former Deputy Director for Management, Office of Managementand Budget, and Co-Chair, Commission to Reform the Federal Appointments Process), HSGAC

March 2011 hear ing, pp. 23 (advocat ing use of an electronic application or sma rt form); State-ment of Max Stier, HSGAC March 2011 hearing, p. 5 (recommending that Congress order aninteragency effort to consolidate background questionnaires into a single, secure electronic form,with each investigating agency given the opportunity to add jurisdiction-specific agenda); State-ment of Norman J. Ornstein, HSGAC March 2011 hearing, pp. 34 (advocating use of softwareto enable one-time entry of all basic information and noting the development of a prototype sev-eral years ago).

43 Exec. Order No. 10540 (April 27, 1953) (requiring heads of agencies and the Office of Per-sonnel Management, with support from the FBI, to investigate federal employees to determinewhether they pose a security risk).

44 S ee, e.g., Statement of Norman J. Ornstein, HSGAC March 2011 hearing, p. 4; Galston andDionne, p. 4.

ship).41

Several commen tat orsincluding Sullivan ha ve pr oposedways of reducing this duplication, including by the use of common,electr onic forms.42

The Presidential Appointment Efficiency and Streamlining Actestablishes an executive branch working group to study and reportto the President and Congress on streamlining paperwork requiredfor those under consideration for Senate-confirmed positions. Thebill would require t he working group to ma ke r ecommendat ions forstreamlining paperwork required for executive nominations and adetailed plan for creating and implementing an electronic systemfor collecting and distributing background information from poten-tial and actual nominees for presidential appointments requiringSenate confirmation. Likened by some to software such as TurboTax, such an electronic system, or smart form, would allow anominee to enter answers to the same or similar questions one wayand one time and then, ideally, would populate this information

into each of the various forms the nominee is asked to fill out dur-ing the course of the nomination process. The use of a smart formcould reduce the number of redundant questions a nominee mustanswer and thereby shorten both the time it takes for a presidentto nominate a candidate an d th e time it ta kes for t he relevant Sen-ate committee to receive, and review, the nominees biographical in-formation.

Fina lly, S. 679 directs th e working group to conduct a r eview an dreport on the impact of background investigation requirements onthe appointments process. FBI background checks for individualsnominated to a position in the executive branch are not statutorilyrequired but are a matter of presidential practice, with their rootsin an executive order issued by President Eisenhower.43 It is nowstandard practice for nominees to receive a full-field backgroundcheck prior to the nomination being submitted to Congress. Some

observers have noted the potentially time consuming nature of FBIbackground checks, as well as the strain large numbers of thesecan place on FBI resources, particularly at the start of an adminis-tration.44 The bill requires the working group to consider the ex-tent to which the scope of the background investigation should bevaried depending on the nature of the position for which the indi-vidual is being considered. In other words, should a nominee to be,for example, a member of the Postal Rate Commission receive thesame level of scrutiny and thoroughness of investigation as a nomi-nee to be the Deputy Secretary of Defense or other high-level na-



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45 Statement of Norman J. Ornstein, HSGAC March 2011 hearing, p. 4; see also Galston andDionne, p. 5 (suggesting a tiered syst em of background checks, with t he most st ringen t re-served only for top-level positions).

46 See Galston and Dionne, p. 13.

tional security position? Norman Ornstein, in testimony submittedto th e Committee, r ecommended, for example, using a sliding scalefrom full investigations for key posts down to simple computerbackground checks for more minor posts.45 The working group isalso to determine whether it would be practical to use personnelother than FBI agents to conduct background investigations ofthose under consideration for a presidential appointment requiringSenate confirmation, as a means of handling the volume of back-ground checks quickly and reducing the burdens on FBI resources.Currently, the Office of Personnel Management handles back-ground investigations for many individuals other than those beingconsidered for presidentially appointed, Senate-confirmed posi-tions.46

III. LEGISLATIVE H ISTORY

On March 2, 2011, the Senate Homeland Security and Govern-ment al Affairs Committ ee held a hear ing titled Eliminat ing th eBottlenecks: Strea mlinin g the Nomina tions Pr ocess to exam ine th eproblems with and explore potential improvements to the currentprocess by which Executive Branch officials are nominated and con-firmed. Clay Johnson, the former head of White House Office ofPresidential Personnel and former Deputy Director for Manage-ment at the Office of Management and Budget, Max Stier, Presi-dent of th e Pa rt nersh ip for P ublic Service, an d Robert Dove, formerSenate Parliamentarian, testified at the hearing. Additionally, Nor-man Ornstein, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Insti-tute, provided written testimony.

On March 30, 2011, Senators Schumer and Alexander introducedS. 679, which was referred to the Senate Committee on HomelandSecurity and Governmental Affairs. Senators Lieberman, Collins,Reid, McConnell, Bingaman, Blumenthal, Scott Brown, Carper,

Durbin, Johanns, Kyl, Lugar, Reed, and Whitehouse were originalco-sponsors of the legislation. The Committee considered the legis-lation at a business meeting on April 13, 2011. The Committeeadopted by unanimous consent a substitute amendment offered bySenators Lieberman and Collins and by voice vote an amendmentoffered by Senator Carper and then ordered the bill favorably re-ported by voice vote, with Senator Coburn recorded as a no vote(along with Senators Ensign and Paul who asked to be recorded asno votes by proxy). Members present for the vote on the bill wereSenators Lieberman, Levin, Akaka, Carper, Landrieu, Begich, Col-lins, Coburn, McCain, and Johnson.

The substitute amends S. 679 to retain Senate confirmation forthe following positions, based on additional, clarifying informationabout the nature of the positions provided by the Committees with jurisdiction over the nominations: 1) Assistant Secretary for Com-

munication and Information at the Department of Commerce; 2)four Associate Directors at the Office of Science and TechnologyPolicy; and 3) Assistant Secretary for Information and Technologyat the Department of Veterans Affairs. In addition, the substituteremoves the Chief Human Capital Officer at the Department of



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Housing and Urban Development from the roster of positions forwhich Senate confirmation should be eliminated, as that positionis not currently required to be Senate confirmed. The substitutealso amends S. 679 to eliminate Senate confirmation for the Direc-tor of the Office of Selective Service Records at the Department ofDefense and the Assistant Secretary for Operations, Security andPreparedness at the Department of Veterans Affairs, and to con-vert the Chief Financial Officer of the National Aeronautics andSpace Administration (NASA) from a political to a career position.Finally, the substitute makes certain other technical and clarifyingchanges.

The Carper amendment establishes a fixed five-year term for theDirector of the Census Bureau, to coincide with each of two distinctphases of the decennial census. Additionally, the amendment re-quires that future Census Directors have a demonstrated ability inmanaging large organizations and experience in the collection,analysis, and use of statistical data. It does not alter the existingrequiremen t for Sen at e confirm ation of th e Census Director.

IV. SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS

S ection 1. Sh ort title

This section st ates th at th is bill may be cited as t he Pr esidentialAppointment Efficiency and Streamlining Act of 2011.

S ec. 2. Presidential appoin tm ents not subject to Senat e approval

This section eliminates the requirement of Senate confirmationfor 220 presidentially appointed positions across the executivebranch, as well as for the appointment and promotion of more than2800 uniformed officers of the Public Health Service and NationalOceanic an d Atmospheric Administr at ion.

Subsection (a) removes the requirement for Senate confirmationfor the following positions at the Department of Agriculture: (1) As-sistant Secretary for Congressional Relations; (2) Assistant Sec-reta ry for Administrat ion; (3) Rura l Ut ilities Service Administra tor;and (4) the seven members of the Board of Directors of the Com-modity Credit Corporation.

Subsection (b) eliminates Senate confirmation for the followingpositions in the Department of Commerce: (1) Assistant Secretaryfor Legislative Affairs; and (2) Chief Scientist, National Oceanicand Atmospheric Administration.

Subsection (c) eliminates Senate confirmation for several posi-tions within the Department of Defense: (1) the Assistant Secretaryfor Legislative Affairs; (2) the Assistant Secretary for Public Af-fairs; (3) the Assistant Secretary for Networks and Information In-tegr at ion; (4) the Director of th e Office of Selective Service Records ;

an d (5) six members of the N ational Security E ducation Board. Ad-ditionally this subsection changes the titles of the Assistant Secre-taries for Financial Management of the Army, Navy, and Air Forceto Comptroller of the Army, Navy and Air Force, respectively,and no longer requires that these three positions be Senate con-firmed.

Subsection (d) removes the requirement for Senate confirmationfor the following positions at the Department of Education: (1) As-sistant Secretary for Legislation and Congressional Affairs; (2) As-



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47 This position was previously known as the Director of the Office for Domestic Preparedness,a title that remains in the Homeland Security Act. S ee 6 U.S.C. 238.

sistant Secretary for Management; (3) Commissioner, Rehabilita-tion Services Administration; and (4) Commissioner for EducationStatistics.

Subsection (e) eliminates Senate confirmation for the AssistantSecretary for Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs at theDepartment of Energy.

Subsection (f) eliminates Senate confirmation for the followingpositions at the Department of Health and Human Services: (1) As-sistant Secretary for Public Affairs; (2) Assistant Secretary for Leg-islation; (3) Commissioner, Administration for Children, Youth andFamilies; and (4) Commissioner, Administration for Native Ameri-cans.

Subsection (g) eliminates Senate confirmation for the followingpositions at the Department of Homeland Security: (1) AssistantAdministrator, Grant Programs, Federal Emergency ManagementAgency; 47 (2) Administrator of the United States Fire Administra-tion; (3) Director of the Office of Counternarcotics Enforcement;and (4) Chief Medical Officer.

Subsection (h) elimina tes t he r equirement of Senat e confirmat ionfor (1) the Assistant Secretary for Congressional and Intergovern-mental Relations and (2) the Assistant Secretary for Public Affairsat the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Subsection (i) eliminates Senate confirmation for several posi-tions in the Department of Justice: (1) Assistant Attorney General,Legislative Affairs; (2) Director of the Bureau of Justice Statistics;(3) Director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance; (4) Director of theNational Institute of Justice; (5) Administrator of the Office of Ju-venile Justice and Delinquency Prevention; and (6) Director of theOffice for Victims of Crime.

Subsection (j) provides that the following positions within the De-par tmen t of Labor ar e no longer su bject to Sena te confirm ation: (1)

Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management; (2) As-sistant Secretary for Congressional Affairs; (3) Assistant Secretaryfor Public Affairs; and (4) Director of the Womens Bureau.

Subsection (k) eliminat es Sena te confirmat ion for t hr ee Assista ntSecretaries at the Department of State: (1) the Assistant Secretaryfor Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs, (2) the AssistantSecretary for Public Affairs, and (3) the Assistant Secretary for Ad-ministration.

Subsection (l) provides t ha t th e following positions at th e Depar t-ment of Transportation will no longer be subject to Senate con-firma tion: (1) Assista nt Secreta ry for Budget a nd Pr ogram s; (2) As-sistant Secretary for Governmental Affairs; and (3) Deputy Admin-istrator, Federal Aviation Administration.

Subsection (m) makes the following positions within the Depart-ment of Treasury no longer subject to confirmation by the Senate:

(1) the Assistant Secretary for Legislative Affairs; (2) the AssistantSecretary for Public Affairs; (3) the Assistant Secretary for Man-agement; (4) the Treasurer of the United States; and (5) the Direc-tor of th e Mint.

Subsection (n) removes the requirement of Senate confirmationfor the following Assistant Secretaries in the Department of Vet-



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erans Affairs: (1) the Assistant Secretary for Management; (2) theAssistant Secretary for Human Resources and Administration; (3)the Assistant Secretary for Public and Intergovernmental Affairs;(4) the Assistant Secretary for Congressional and Legislative Af-fairs; and (5) the Assistant Secretary for Operations, Security andPreparedness.

Subsection (o) eliminates Senate confirmation for the AlternateFedera l Co-Cha irman of th e Appalachian Regional Commission.

Subsection (p) eliminates Senate confirmation for the two mem-bers of the Council of Economic Advisors other than the chairman.

Subsection (q) eliminates Senate confirmation for the two Man-aging Directors of the Corporation for National and CommunityService.

Subsection (r) eliminates Senate confirmation for the 15 mem-bers of the National Council on Disability.

Subsection (s) eliminates Senate confirmation for 20 members of

the National Museum and Library Services Board.Subsection (t) elimina tes Sen at e confirmat ion for the 24 members

of the National Science Board.Subsection (u) eliminates Senate confirmation for the position of

Controller, Office of Federal Financial Management at the Office ofManagement and Budget.

Subsection (v) provides that the four Deputy Directors of the Of-fice of National Drug Control Policy are no longer subject to Senateconfirmation.

Subsection (w) eliminates Senate confirmation for the Commis-sioner of th e Office of Navajo an d H opi Relocation.

Subsection (x) eliminates Senate confirmation for (1) the Assist-an t Administr at or for Legislative and Pu blic Affairs an d (2) th e As-sistant Administrator for Management at the U.S. Agency forInternational Development.

Subsection (y) eliminates Senate confirmation for the Adminis-trator of the Community Development Financial Institution Fund.

Subsection (z) eliminates Senate confirmation for the Adminis-trator of the St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation at theDepartment of Transportation.

Subsection (aa) eliminates Senate confirmation for the sevenCommissioners of the Mississippi River Commission.

Subsection (bb) eliminates Senate confirmation for the Governoran d Alternat e Governor of the African Development Bank .

Subsection (cc) eliminates Senate confirmation for the Governorand Alternate Governor of the Asian Development Bank.

Subsection (dd) eliminates Senate confirmation for the Governorand Alternate Governor of the International Monetary Fund andthe International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

Subsection (ee) eliminates Senate confirmation for the Governor

an d Altern at e Governor of th e African Development F un d.Subsection (ff) removes the requirement of Senate confirmationfor the appointment of the 15 members to the National Board forEducation Sciences.

Subsection (gg) eliminates Senate confirmation for 10 membersof th e Na tional Inst itut e for Literacy Advisory Board.

Subsection (hh) eliminates Senate confirmation for 13 membersof the Board of Trustees of the Institute of American Indian andAlaska Native Culture and Arts Development.



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48 31 U.S.C. 901 establishes two categories of CFOs: (1) those who are to be appointed bythe President (the seventeen currently specified in statute include those at each of the fifteenCabinet departments, as well as those at the Environmental Protection Agency and NASA) and(2) those at seven other agencies who are to be appointed by the head of the agency from thecompetitive service or the senior executive service. S. 697 would eliminate Senate confirmationfor the first category of CFOs and would move the NASA CFO to the second category. In addi-tion, 28 U.S.C. 507 (added by the Consolidated Appropriations of 2000, P.L. 106113, Div. B,1000(a)(1)) provides that, notwithstanding 31 U.S.C. 901, the Assistant Attorney General forAdministration, a career position in the competitive service, shall be th e CFO of the Departm entof Justice.

Subsection (ii) eliminates Senate confirmation for the Federal Co-ordinator for Alaska Natural Gas Transportation Projects.Subsection (jj) provides that appointments to and promotions

within the Public Health Service Commissioned Officer Corps areno longer subject to the advice and consent of the Senate. Cur-rently the appointments and permanent promotions of approxi-mately 2536 commissioned officers in the Public Health Service re-quire Senate action.

Subsection (kk) eliminates the need for the advice and consentof the Senate for appointments and promotions of approximately321 members of the Na tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Administra-tion Comm issioned Officer Corps.

Subsection (ll) eliminates the requirement for Senate confirma-tion for those department or agency Chief Financial Officers(CFOs) who are currently required to be Senate confirmed and in-

stead authorizes the President to appoint those CFOs, with one ex-ception: the CFO at NASA is to be appointed by the head of theagency from the competitive or senior executive service.48

Section 3. Appointment of the Director of the Census

This section establishes a five-year fixed term for the Director ofthe Census Bureau, to coincide with the two phases (planning andoperational) of the decennial census. It is designed to ensure con-sistent leadership of the Census Bureau and is consistent with thefixed terms provided for the heads of other federal statistical agen-cies.

Subsection (a) amends 13 U.S.C. 21 to provide that the CensusDirector is to be appointed for a five-year term and may not servemore than two full terms. It further establishes qualifications forthe Census Director, providing that the person appointed is to havedemonstrated ability in managing large organizations and experi-ence in the collection, analysis, and use of statistical data. Thissubsection also provides for removal of the Census Director by thePresident, and requires that the President notify Congress in writ-ing of the reasons for such r emoval a t least 60 d ays before r emoval.The provision does not a lter the r equirement tha t t he Pr esident ap-point the Census Director with the advice and consent of the Sen-ate.

Subsection (b) explains the procedures and timing for the transi-tion from the current Census Director to one appointed for a fixedterm.

S ection 4. Working Group on S treamlinin g Paperwork for ExecutiveNominations

This section establishes a Working Group on Streamlining Paper-work for Executive Nominations (the Working Group) to look at



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certain possible ways of reducing burdens and delays in the ap-point ment s pr ocess.Subsection (a) esta blishes t he Working Group.Subsection (b) provides for the composition of the Working

Group. Specifically, this subsection designates the Director of theOffice of Presidential Personnel as the chairperson of the WorkingGroup, unless the President chooses to designate another federalofficer. The Working Group is also to include representatives des-ignated by the President from the Office of Personnel Management,the Office of Government Ethics, and the FBI, as well as individ-uals appointed by the chairperson of the Working Group who haveexperience and expertise relating to the Working Group, includingindividuals from other relevant Federal agencies and individualswith relevant experience from previous presidential administra-tions.

Subsection (c) directs the Working Group to conduct a study onstreamlining the paperwork required for executive nominations,and to submit a report of its findings within 90 days to the Presi-dent and to the Senate Committees on Homeland Security andGovernmental Affairs and Rules and Administration. The report isto include recommendations for streamlining paperwork requiredfor executive nominations and a detailed plan for creating and im-plementing an electronic system for collecting and distributingbackground information from potential and actual presidentialnominees for presidential appointments requiring Senate confirma-tion. This electronic system is r equired, among other thin gs, to pro-vide for faster delivery of background information to Congress, theWhite House and others and to ensure the existence of a singleSmart Form that makes it possible for a nominee to answer du-plicative vetting questions once. In conducting the study required

under this section, the Working Group is to consult with the Chair-persons and Ranking Members of the Senate Committee on Home-land Security and Governmental Affairs and the Senate Committeeon Rules and Administration.

Subsection (d) directs the Working Group to review the impactof background investigation requirements on the appointmentsprocess. In the review, the Working Group is to assess the feasi-bility, in appropriate circumstances, of using non-FBI personnel toconduct background investigations of those under consideration fora presidential appointment requiring Senate confirmation. The re-view is also to consider the extent to which the scope of the back-ground investigations should be varied depending on the nature ofthe position for which the individual is being considered. After con-ducting this study a nd n ot later tha n 270 days after the da te of en-actment of this Act, the Working Group is to submit a report of the

findings of the review under this subsection to the President, theSenate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee,and the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration.

Subsection (e) addresses personnel matters for the WorkingGroup, including providing that no member of the Working Group,whether a federal officer and employee or not, is to be compensatedfor services performed for the Working Group. This subsection alsoauthorizes the President to designate Federal officers and employ-ees to provide support services for the Working Group and provides



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for federal employees to be detailed to the Working Group withoutreimbursement.Subsection (f) states that the Federal Advisory Committee Act (5

U.S.C. App.) shall not apply to the Working Group establishedunder this section.

Subsection (g) provides that the Working Group shall terminate60 days after the date on which it submits the latter of the two re-ports required under this section.

Section 5. Effective date

This section states that any amendment made by Section 2 ofthis Act (relating to appointments no longer subject to Senate con-firmation) shall take effect 60 days after the date of enactment andapply to appointments made on and after the effective date, includ-ing any nomination pending in the Senate on that date. Provisions

in Sections 3 and 4 (relating, respectively, to the Census Directorand to the Working Group) are to take effect on the date of enact-ment .

V. REGULATORY IMPACT AND E VALUATION

Pursuant to the requirement of paragraph 11(b)(1) of rule XXVIof the Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee has consideredthe regulatory impact of this bill and has determined that the billwill have no regulatory impact. CBO states that the bill containsno intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in theUnfunded Mandates Reform Act and would impose no costs onsta te, local, or tribal govern ment s.

VI. CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE COST ESTIMATE

MAY 2, 2011.Hon. J OSEPH I. LIEBERMAN,Chairman, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Af-

fairs, U.S. S enate, Washin gton, DC.

DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: The Congressional Budget Office has pre-pared the enclosed cost estimate for S. 679, the Presidential Ap-pointment Efficiency and Streamlining Act of 2011.

If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be pleasedto provide th em. The CBO st aff conta ct is J eff LaFave.

Sincerely,DOUGLAS W. ELMENDORF .

Enclosure.

S. 679Presidential Appointment Efficiency and Streamlining Actof 2011

S. 679 would reduce the number of Presidential appointees thatrequire Senate confirmation and establish a working group to con-sider ways to streamline the Presidential appointment process.Based on information from federal entities involved in the appoint-ment process, CBO estimates that implementing the bill wouldhave no significant impact on the federal budget. Enacting S. 679would not affect direct spending or revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply.



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S. 679 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandatesas defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would notaffect the budgets of state, local, or tribal governments.

The bill would reduce the number of Presidential appointees re-quiring Senate confirmation from about 1,200 (excluding judges) toaround 1,000. The legislation also would eliminate the statutory re-quirement that the Senate confirm several thousand commissionedofficers of the Public Health Service and the National Oceanic andAtmospheric Administr at ion.

CBO expects that enacting the bill could reduce the workloads ofcertain federal employees; however, because those employees wouldprobably be retained and assigned other tasks, we estimate thatimplementing the legislation would lead to a negligible reduction inspending su bject t o appropriation.

The legislation also would establish a working group to examinethe process for conducting background investigations of Presi-

dential appointees and study ways to streamline paperwork associ-ated with the appointment process. Because the working groupwould be staffed by existing government employees and unpaid ex-perts, CBO estimates that implementing this provision would haveno significant cost.

The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Jeff LaFave. The esti-mate was approved by Theresa Gullo, Deputy Assistant Directorfor Budget Analysis.

VII. CHANGES TO EXISTING LAW MADE BY THE BILL, AS REPORTED

In compliance with paragraph 12 of rule XXVI of the StandingRules of the Senate, changes in existing law made by S. 679 as re-ported are shown as follows (existing law proposed to be omittedis enclosed in brackets, new matter is printed in italic, and existinglaw in wh ich no change is proposed is sh own in roman ):

THE CODE OF LAWS OF THE UN ITEDSTATES OF AMERICA

* * * * * * *

TITLE 5GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATIONAND EMPLOYEES

* * * * * * *

P ART IIIEMP LOYEES

* * * * * * *

Subpart DPay and Allow ance s

* * * * * * *

CHAPTER 53PAY RATES AND S YSTEMS

* * * * * * *



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Subchapter IIExecut ive Sche dule P ay Rates* * * * * * *

5315. Posit ion s at leve l IV

Level IV of the Executive Schedule applies to the following posi-tions, for which the annual rate of basic pay shall be the rate de-termined with respect to such level under chapter 11 of title 2 (2USCS 351 et seq.), as adjusted by section 5318 of this title (5USCS 5318):

Assista nt Secreta ries of th e Air F orce (4) (3).Assistant Secretaries of the Army (5) (4).Assistant Secretaries of the Navy (4) (3).Comp troller of th e Air ForceComptroller of the Arm yComptroller of the Navy

* * * * * * *

APP END IX IREORGANIZATION PLANS

* * * * * * *

REORGANIZATION P LAN NO. 4 OF 197 0

* * * * * * *

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

* * * * * * *

2. Establishment o f Administration

(a ) * * *(b) * * *(c) * * *(d) There shall be in the Administration a Chief Scientist of the

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration who shall be ap-pointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent ofthe Senate, and shall be compensated at the rate now or hereafterprovided for Level V of the Executive Schedule Pay Rates (5 U.S.C.5316). The Chief Scientist shall be the principal scientific adviserto the Administrator, and shall perform such other duties as theAdministrator may direct. The Chief Scientist shall be an indi-vidual who is, by reason of scientific education and experience,knowledgeable in the principles of oceanic, atmospheric, or otherscientific disciplines important to the work of the Administration.

* * * * * * *

TITLE 6DOMESTIC SECURITY

* * * * * * *

CHAPTER 1HOMELAND SECURITY ORGANIZATION

* * * * * * *



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Subch apter IVDirectorate of Borde r and TransportationSecuri ty

* * * * * * *

PART CMISCELLANEOUS PR OVISIONS

* * * * * * *

238. Office for Domestic P reparedn ess

(a ) * * *(b) DIRECTOR.There shall be a Director of the Office for Domes-

tic Preparedness, who shall be appointed by the President , by andwith the a dvice and consent of the Sena te . The Director of the Of-fice for Domestic Preparedness shall report directly to the UnderSecretary for Border and Transportation Security.

* * * * * * *

Subchapter VNational Emergency Management

* * * * * * *

321e. Chief Medical Officer

(a) IN GENERAL.There is in the Department a Chief MedicalOfficer, who shall be appointed by the President , by and with theadvice and consent of the Senate .

* * * * * * *

Subchapter VIIICoordination With Non-Federal Entit ies;Inspector General; United States Secret Service; CoastGuard; General P rovisions

* * * * * * *

P ART HMISCELLANEOUS P ROVISIONS

* * * * * * *

458. Office of Counterna rcotics Enforceme nt

(a) OFFICE .There is established in the Department an Office ofCoun tern ar cotics Enforcement, wh ich sha ll be headed by a Directorappointed by the President, by and with the advice and consentof t he Sena t e .

* * * * * * *

TITLE 7AGRICULTURE

* * * * * * *

CHAPTER 98DEP ARTMENT OF AGRICULTUREREORGANIZATION

* * * * * * *



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Subch apter IGeneral Reorganization Autho rit ies* * * * * * *

6918. Assistant Secretaries of Agriculture

(a) AUTHORIZATION .The Secretary is authorized to establish inthe Department the positions of

(1) Assistant Secretary of Agriculture for Congressional Rela-tions;

(2) Assistant Secretary of Agriculture for Administration;and

(3) Assistant Secretary of Agriculture for Civil Rights.(b) CONFIRMATION REQUIRED.If the Secretary establishes any

position of Assistant Secretary authorized under subsection (a)(3),the Assistant Secretary shall be appointed by the President, by andwith the advice and consent of the Senate.

(c) SUCCESSION .Any official who is serving as Assistant Sec-retary of Agriculture for Administration or Assistant Secretary ofAgriculture for Congressional Relations on the date of the enact-ment of this Act (enacted Oct. 13, 1994) and who was appointed assuch Assistant Secretary by the President, by and with the adviceand consent of the Senate, shall not be required to be reappointedunder subsection (b) to the successor position authorized undersubsection (a) if the Secretary establishes the position, and the offi-cial occupies th e new position, within 180 days after the dat e of theenactment of this Act (enacted Oct. 13, 1994) (or such later dateset by the Secretary if litigation delays rapid succession). (d) (c) Duties of Assistant Secretary for Agriculture for Civil

Rights

* * * * * * *

Subch apter IIIRural Economic an d Commun ityDevelopment

* * * * * * *

6942. Rural Uti l i t ies Se rvice

(a ) * * *(b) ADMINISTRATOR .

(1) APPOINTMENT.The Ru ral U tilities Service sha ll be head-ed by an Administrator who shall be appointed by thePresident, by and with th e advice and consent of the Senate .(2) SUCCESSION .Any official who is serving as Adminis-

trator of the Rural Electrification Administration on the dateof the enactment of this Act and who was appointed by thePresident, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate

(A) may be considered to be serving in the successor po-

sition established under paragraph (1); and(B) shall not be required to be reappointed to that posi-tion by reason of the ena ctm ent of this Act.

* * * * * * *

TITLE 10ARMED FORCE S

* * * * * * *



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Su btitle AGen eral Military Law* * * * * * *

PART 1ORGANIZATION AND GENERALMILITARY POWERS

* * * * * * *

CHAPTER 4OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE

* * * * * * *

138. Assistant Secretaries of Defens e

(a)(1) There are 16 Assistant Secretaries of Defense.

(2) The Assistant Secretaries of Defense shall be appointed fromcivilian life by the President, by and with the advice and consentof the Senate.

(2)(A) Except as provided in subparagraph (B), the Assistant Sec-retaries of Defense shall be appointed from civilian life by the Presi-dent, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate.

(B) Th e Assistan t S ecretary of Defense referred to in subsection(b)(5), the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, and the Assistant S ecretary for Defense in N etworks an d Informat ion Inte-gration shall each be appointed from civilian life by the President.

* * * * * * *

Subtitle BThe Army

* * * * * * *

PART IORGANIZATION

* * * * * * *

CHAPTER 303DEP ARTMENT OF THE ARMY

* * * * * * *

3016. Assistant Secretaries of the Army 3016. Assis tantSecreta ries of the Arm y; Comp trol ler of the Army

(a) There are five fourAssistant Secretaries of the Army. Theyshall be appointed from civilian life by the President, by and withthe advice and consent of the Senate.

(b)(1) The Assista nt Secreta ries sha ll perform su ch dut ies and ex-

ercise such powers as t he Secretar y of the Army ma y prescribe.(2) One of the Assistant Secretaries shall be the Assistant Sec-retary of the Army for Manpower and Reserve Affairs. He shallhave as his principal duty the overall supervision of manpower andreserve component affairs of the Depart ment of the Army.

(3) One of the Assistant Secretaries shall be the Assistant Sec-retary of the Army for Civil Works. He shall have as his principalduty the overall supervision of the functions of the Department ofthe Army relating to programs for conservation and development of



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the national water resources, including flood control, navigation,shore protection, and related purposes.(4) One of the Assistant Secretaries shall be the Assistant Sec-

retary of the Army for Financial Management. The Assistant Sec-retary shall have as his principal responsibility the exercise of thecomptroller functions of the Department of the Army, including fi-nancial management functions. The Assistant Secretary shall beresponsible for all financial management activities and operationsof the Department of the Army and shall advise the Secretary ofthe Army on financial management. (5) (4)(A) One of the Assistant Secretaries shall be the Assist-

ant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Technology, and Logis-tics. The principal duty of the Assistant Secretary shall be theoverall supervision of acquisition, technology, and logistics mattersof the Department of the Army.

(B) The Assistant Secretary shall have a Principal Military Dep-

uty, who shall be a lieutenant general of the Army on active duty.The Principal Military Deputy shall be appointed from among offi-cers who have significan t experience in th e ar eas of acquisition a ndprogram management. The position of Principal Military Deputyshall be designated as a critical acquisition position under section1733 of this title (10 USCS 1733).

(C) Th ere is a Compt roller of the Arm y, wh o shall be appointed from civilian life by the President. The Comptroller shall performsuch d ut ies and exercise such powers as the S ecretary of th e Arm ym ay prescribe. T he Com ptroller shall h ave as his principal respon-sibility t he exercise of the com ptroller functions of th e Departm entof the Army, including financial management functions. The Comp-troller shall be responsible for all fin ancial m ana gem ent activitiesand operations of the Department of the Army and shall advise theS ecretary of the Arm y on fin an cial man agement .

* * * * * * *

3022. F inancial manageme nt

(a) The Secretary of the Army shall provide that the AssistantSecretary of the Army for Financial Management Comp troller ofthe Army shall direct and manage financial management activitiesand operations of the Department of the Army, including ensuringthat financial management systems of the Department of the Armycomply with subsection (b). The authority of the Assistant Sec-retary for such direction and management shall include the author-ity to

(1) supervise and direct the preparation of budget estimatesof the Department of the Army and otherwise carry out, withrespect to the Department of the Army, the functions specifiedfor the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) in section

135(c) of th is tit le (10 USCS 135(c));(2) approve and supervise any project to design or enhancea financial management system for the Department of theArmy; an d

(3) approve the establishment and supervise the operation ofany a sset man agement system of the Department of the Army,including

(A) systems for cash management, credit management,and debt collection; and



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(B) systems for the accounting for the quantity, location,an d cost of property a nd in ventory.(b) * * *(c) * * *(d) The Assistant Secretary of the Army for Financial Manage-

ment Comp troller of th e Arm y shall transmit to the Secretary ofthe Army a report each year on the activities of the Assistant Sec-retary during the preceding year. Each such report shall include adescription and analysis of the status of Department of the Armyfinancial management.

* * * * * * *

Su btitle CNavy a nd Marine Corps

* * * * * * *

PART IORGANIZATION

* * * * * * *

CHAPTER 503DEPARTMENT OF THE N AVY

* * * * * * *

5016. Assistant Secretaries of the Navy 5016. Assis tantSecre tar ies of the Na vy; Comptrol ler of the Na vy

(a) There are four three Assistant Secretaries of the Navy.They shall be appointed from civilian life by the President, by andwith the advice and consent of the Senate.

(b)(1) The Assista nt Secreta ries sha ll perform su ch dut ies and ex-

ercise such powers as t he Secretar y of the Na vy may prescribe.(2) One of the Assistant Secretaries shall be the Assistant Sec-

retary of the Navy for Manpower and Reserve Affairs. He shallhave as his principal duty the overall supervision of manpower andreserve component affairs of the Depart ment of the Navy.(3) One of the Assistant Secretaries shall be the Assistant Sec-

retary of the Navy for Financial Management. The Assistant Sec-retary shall have as his principal responsibility the exercise of thecomptroller functions of the Department of the Navy, including fi-nancial management functions. The Assistant Secretary shall beresponsible for all financial management activities and operationsof the Department of the Navy and shall advise the Secretary ofthe Navy on financial management. (4) (3)(A) One of the Assistant Secretaries shall be the Assist-

ant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development, and Acquisi-

tion. The principal duty of the Assistant Secretary shall be theoverall supervision of research, development, and acquisition mat-ters of the Department of the Navy.

(B) The Assistant Secretary shall have a Principal Military Dep-uty, who shall be a vice admiral of the Navy or a lieutenant gen-eral of the Marine Corps on active duty. The Principal MilitaryDeputy shall be appointed from among officers who have signifi-cant experience in the areas of acquisition and program manage-ment . The position of Principal Military Deput y sha ll be designat ed



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as a critical acquisition position under section 1733 of this title (10USCS 1733).(c) There is a Comptroller of the Navy, who shall be appointed

from civilian life by the President. The Comptroller shall performsuch duties and exercise such powers as the Secretary of the Navym ay prescribe. T he Com ptroller shall h ave as his principal respon-sibility t he exercise of the com ptroller functions of th e Departm entof the Navy, including financial management functions. The Comp-troller shall be responsible for all fin ancial m ana gem ent activitiesand operations of the Department of the Navy and shall advise theS ecretary of the Navy on finan cial m anagement.

* * * * * * *


(a) The Secretary of the Navy shall provide that the AssistantSecretary of the Navy for Financial Management Comptroller ofthe Navy shall direct and manage financial management activitiesand operations of the Department of the Navy, including ensuringthat financial management systems of the Department of the Navycomply with subsection (b). The authority of the Assistant Sec-retary for such direction and management shall include the author-ity to

(1) supervise and direct the preparation of budget estimatesof the Department of the Navy and otherwise carry out, withrespect to the Department of the Navy, the functions specifiedfor the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) in section135(c) of this title;

(2) approve and supervise any project to design or enhancea financial management system for the Department of the

Navy; and(3) approve the establishment and supervise the operation of

any a sset man agement system of the Departm ent of the N avy,including

(A) systems for cash management, credit management,and debt collection; and

(B) systems for the accounting for the quantity, location,an d cost of property a nd in ventory.

(b) * * *(c) * * *(d) The Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Financial Manage-

ment Comp troller of th e N avy shall transmit to the Secretary ofthe Navy a report each year on the activities of the Assistant Sec-retary during the preceding year. Each such report shall include adescription and analysis of the status of Department of the Navy

financial management.

* * * * * * *

Su btitle DAir Force

* * * * * * *



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PART IORGANIZATION* * * * * * *

CHAPTER 803DEP ARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE

* * * * * * *

8016. Assistant Secre taries of the Air Force; Comptrol ler of the Air Force

(a) There are four three Assistant Secretaries of the Air Force.They shall be appointed from civilian life by the President, by andwith the advice and consent of the Senate.

(b)(1) The Assista nt Secreta ries sha ll perform su ch dut ies and ex-ercise such powers a s th e Secretary of the Air Force may prescribe.

(2) One of the Assistant Secretaries shall be the Assistant Sec-

reta ry of th e Air F orce for Ma npower an d Reserve Affairs. He sha llhave as his principal duty the overall supervision of manpower andreserve component affairs of the Depar tmen t of the Air Force.(3) One of the Assistant Secretaries shall be the Assistant Sec-

retary of the Air Force for Financial Management. The AssistantSecretary shall have as his principal responsibility the exercise ofthe comptroller functions of the Department of the Air Force, in-cluding financial management functions. The Assistant Secretarysha ll be responsible for all fina ncial man agement activities an d op-erations of the Department of the Air Force and shall advise theSecreta ry of th e Air F orce on finan cial ma na gement. (4) (3)(A) One of the Assistant Secretaries shall be the Assist-

ant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition. The principal dutyof th e Assistant Secreta ry sh all be th e overall su pervision of acqui-sition matters of the Department of the Air Force.

(B) The Assistant Secretary shall have a Principal Military Dep-uty, who shall be a lieutenant general of the Air Force on activeduty. The Principal Military Deputy shall be appointed from amongofficers who have significant experience in the areas of acquisitionand program management. The position of Principal Military Dep-uty shall be designated as a critical acquisition position under sec-tion 1733 of this title (10 USCS 1733).

(c) There is a Comptroller of the Air Force, who shall be appoint ed from civilian life by the President . Th e Comp troller shal lperform su ch du ties and exercise such p owers as the S ecretary of the Air Force may p rescribe. The Comp troller shal l ha ve as his prin -cipal responsibility the exercise of the comptroller functions of theDepartment of the Air Force, including financial management func-tions. Th e Compt roller shall be responsible for all finan cial ma n-agement a ctivities and operations of the Departm ent of the Air Forceand shall advise the Secretary of the Air Force on financial manage-

ment .

* * * * * * *


(a) The Secretary of the Air Force shall provide that the Assist-ant Secretary of the Air Force for Financial Management Comp-troller of the Air Force shall direct and manage financial manage-ment activities and operations of the Department of the Air Force,



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including ensuring that financial management systems of the De-partment of the Air Force comply with subsection (b). The author-ity of the Assistant Secretary for such direction and managementshall include the authority to

(1) supervise and direct the preparation of budget estimatesof the Department of the Air Force and otherwise carry out,with respect to the Department of the Air Force, the functionsspecified for the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) insection 135(c) of this title (10 USCS 135(c));

(2) approve and supervise any project to design or enhancea financial management system for the Department of the AirForce; and

(3) approve the establishment and supervise the operation ofany asset management system of the Department of the AirForce, including

(A) systems for cash management, credit management,

and debt collection; and(B) systems for the accounting for the quantity, location,

an d cost of property a nd in ventory.(b) * * *(c) * * *(d) The Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Financial Man-

agement Comp troller of th e Air Force shall transmit to the Sec-retary of the Air Force a report each year on the activities of theAssistant Secretary during the preceding year. Each such reportshall include a description and analysis of the status of Depart-ment of the Air Force financial management.

* * * * * * *

TITLE 12BANKS AND BANKING

* * * * * * *

CHAPTER 47COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT B ANKING

* * * * * * *

Subchapter ICommunity Development Banking an dFinancial Institutions

* * * * * * *

4703. Establishment of national Fund for community devel-opment banking

(a ) * * *

(b) MANAGEMENT OF F UN D.(1) APPOINTMENT OF ADMINISTRATOR .The management ofthe Fund shall be vested in an Administrator, who shall be ap-pointed by the President, by and with the advice and consentof the Senate . The Administra tor shall not engage in an yother business or employment during service as the Adminis-t rator .

(2) * * *(3) * * *



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(4) * * ** * * * * * *

TITLE 13CENSUS

* * * * * * *

CHAPTER IADMINISTRATION

* * * * * * *

Subch apter IIOfficers and Employee s

* * * * * * *

21. Director of the Censu s; duties

The Bureau shall be headed by a Director of the Census, ap-pointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of theSenate. The Director shall perform such duties as may be imposedupon h im by law, regulat ions, or orders of the Secretar y.

(a) AP P O I N T M E N T .(1) I N G E N E R A L.The Bureau shall be headed by a Director

of the Census, appointed by the President, by and with the ad-vice and consent of the Senate, without regard to political affili-ation.

(2) QU ALI FI C ATI O N S .Such appointment shall be made fromindividuals who have a demonstrated ability in managing largeorganizations and experience in the collection, analysis, and useof statistical d ata.

(b) T ERM O FOFFICE.(1) I N G E N E R A L.The term of office of the Director shall be

5 years, and shall begin on January 1, 2012, and every fifth year thereafter. An individual may not serve more than 2 fullterm s as D irector.

(2) VAC AN C I ES.Any individual appointed to fill a vacancyin such p osition, occurrin g before the expiration of th e term forwh ich such ind ivid ual s predecessor was ap pointed, shall be appoint ed for th e rema ind er of that term . Th e Director ma y serveafter th e end of the Directors term un til reappointed or un til asuccessor has been appointed, but in no event longer than 1year after the end of such a term .

(3) REMO VAL.An individual serving as Director may be re-m oved from office by the President. T he President sha ll com m u-nicate in w ritin g the reasons for any su ch rem