Democrats frustrated by vacancies across government

Ten months after President BidenJoe BidenRisch dismayed with fellow GOP senators’ blockade on Biden diplomatic picks Sunday shows preview: Boosters open to all US adults; House Dems pass spending plan on to Senate White House calls for investigation into missing Chinese tennis star’s sexual assault claims MORE took office, many key positions across the government lack a permanent occupant.

The White House has spent months battling Republican blockades on Biden’s nominees for various positions. Several of them are candidates for critical ambassadorships that have been held up by GOP senators.

Biden also has been slow to select nominees for some key positions, while others have failed to gain enough support in the 50-50 Senate, where Democrats only have the majority because of Vice President Harris.

The result is an administration that has witnessed a slower confirmation rate than its three predecessors, leaving White House officials and Senate Democrats increasingly frustrated. While many positions are filled with officials serving in an acting capacity, experts say that permanent leadership across government is important to keep up morale and allow for long-term planning.

“The end result of all of this is, at a moment when we need so much from our government, we have a government that is not led with permanent officials in many instances, and that’s a big problem,” said Max Stier, president and CEO of the Partnership for Public Service.

Kathryn Tenpas, an expert in executive confirmations at the Brookings Institution, said that Biden is lagging behind former Presidents Trump, Obama and George W. Bush when it comes to the number of confirmed nominees in the first 300 days of his presidency “by extremely significant points.”

Of the 15 major departments, 140 of Biden’s nominees have been confirmed, according to her research, while Trump had 158, Obama had 274, and Bush had 326 at the same point. There are 1,200 Senate-confirmed positions across the executive branch, which includes bodies like the Environmental Protection Agency that Tenpas does not track.

Confirmations are slow at the departments of State, Commerce, Homeland Security, Defense, Transportation and Treasury when comparing the Biden administration to its predecessors, she said. While the Senate has been slow to process nominations for executive departments, it has moved quicker to confirm judicial nominees than it did under Trump.  

“By far, the worst performance is at the State Department,” Tenpas said.

Republican senators, including Ted CruzRafael (Ted) Edward CruzRisch dismayed with fellow GOP senators’ blockade on Biden diplomatic picks Sunday shows preview: Boosters open to all US adults; House Dems pass spending plan on to Senate Campaign opposing US consulate in Jerusalem boosted by network for fake accounts: reports MORE (Texas), have slow-walked dozens of State Department nominees, including those to ambassadorships and other senior-level posts, angering the…