Positions in Bush Administration Remain Unfilled, Report Says

Overall, 99 of the Bush administration's 513 Cabinet and sub-Cabinet positions remain unfilled, according to a report by the Brookings Institution's Presidential Appointee Initiative. Of those, 64 nominees still await confirmation by the Senate, four candidates have not been formally nominated and there are no candidates for 31 jobs, the Washington Post reports (Faler, Washington Post, 7/25). Two positions within HHS -- the FDA commissioner and commissioner of the Administration for Native Americans -- remain unfilled (Darryl Drevna, Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 7/26). Paul Light, senior adviser of the Presidential Appointee Initiative, said, "What we have right now is not so much a headless government -- we've got all the top jobs filled. But we have a number of vacancies at the fourth and fifth tiers of government that have created a kind of neckless government." The project's report says that the delay in filling the administration positions can partly be blamed on the Senate, which is taking longer to confirm appointees. The latest nominee to be confirmed was Richard Carmona, the president's surgeon general appointee. Before that, the Senate had gone 76 days without confirming a nominee. Light said the confirmation delays can be attributed to the abbreviated transition period after the 2000 election, Democratic control of the Senate and the Sept. 11 attacks. However, he added that the delays are "really dragging on now." A Bush nominee waits an average of 8.3 months for the Senate to decide whether to confirm him or her, a "lag ... already the longest since 1960," according to the Brookings report. In comparison, Clinton nominees waited an average of 8 months for a confirmation decision. Light said the delays in confirming Bush nominees have been caused in part by senators' use of "holds," a parliamentary procedure that allows senators to delay votes on nominations (Washington Post, 7/25).

Remaining Health Position Appointees
With the Senate's recent confirmation of Carmona as surgeon general, the only remaining pending nomination in HHS is Quanah Stamps for commissioner of the Administration for Native Americans. Bush has not yet nominated an FDA commissioner (Drevna, Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 7/26). Stamps is currently the president of QCS International, which provides advice and technical assistance to Native American tribes. Stamps worked in the Clinton administration from 1994 to 1998 as an assistant administrator of the U.S Small Business Administration. There, she had oversight of small business and economic development programs for Native Americans. From 1991 to 1994, she worked in a variety of positions at the Bureau of Indian Affairs (White House release, 7/2). More information on the nomination process regarding HHS positions is available online.