days. For President Obama, the average was almost 40%
longer—112.4 days.
These results are averages and the range is quite
large. Some confirmations are completed in just a few
weeks, even with Senate committee hearings. Others,
however, can take much longer. Since 2009, there have
been 31 appointments that took more than a full year to
be confirmed. Of those, six took more than 500 days.
Many factors contribute to the length of time that
nominations remain pending in the Senate. Senate rules
are not built for quick decisions while time constraints
and competing priorities crowd out speedy consideration
of nominees. Applicants must fill out significant
paperwork, and on some occasions, administrations
have submitted incomplete or erroneous forms to the
Senate. Any senator can place a “hold” on a nominee to
attempt to extract concessions on matters unrelated to
the nominee’s qualifications. Some senators see political
gain in objecting to virtually every nominee.
Another significant factor has been the increased use
of Senate filibusters in recent years to delay nominations.
Cloture votes, the Senate’s procedural motion used
to limit debate and overcome filibusters, have also
increased dramatically to overcome filibusters. During
the first terms of the Clinton, George W. Bush and Obama
presidencies, there were only 31 cloture votes on judicial
and executive nominees combined. However, there were
150 cloture votes on judicial and executive nominees in
the two years following Obama’s 2012 reelection. And
in Trump’s first two years in oce, the Senate held 148
cloture votes on such nominees.
Confirmation process takes
even longer when excluding
Cabinet positions
Cabinet secretaries generally receive the most attention
from the Senate, White House, media and the public and
as a result are confirmed at a much faster pace than other
positions.
Over the past six administrations, Cabinet secretaries
took an average of 21 days to win confirmation by the
Senate. By contrast, the average for all sub-Cabinet
confirmations was 83.6 days, nearly four times as long.
Under Obama and Trump, these positions have taken an
average of 115.2 days to be confirmed.
Even though Cabinet nominees have been confirmed
at a much faster pace, their confirmations are taking
longer as well. Cabinet nominees were confirmed in an
average of 13.7 days under Reagan. Under Obama and
Trump, Cabinet confirmations have taken an average of
30.9 days.
Both the Senate and executive
branch have opportunities to
streamline an increasingly lengthy
confirmation process
A major presidential responsibility is to fill more
than 1,200 political appointments requiring Senate
confirmation. Few decisions have a greater impact on
the success of an administration than the selection of
its people in critical leadership roles. A president must
not only select well-qualified appointees, but must also
work with relevant federal agencies and the Senate to get
appointees in their jobs quickly. This task is especially
crucial for presidents beginning their first term, and
those transitioning to a second term, as year five of an
eight year term usually coincides with a turnover of more
than 40% in senior leadership positions.
The confirmation process has become more
cumbersome over time because the Senate’s responsibility
to “advise and consent” takes far longer now than it did in
previous years.
Despite changes in technology and Senate rules,
the ocial confirmation process takes more than twice
as long now as it did during President Ronald Reagan’s
administration. During President Donald Trump’s first
three years in oce, the Senate took an average of 115 days
to confirm nominees compared with 56.4 days during
Reagan’s two terms.
1
In 2019 alone, the Senate took an
average of nearly 136 days to confirm appointees.
2
During
three of President Barrack Obama’s eight years in oce,
the average confirmation process exceeded 140 days.
This lengthy period only includes the time between a
president’s ocial nomination of appointees to the Senate
and when the Senate votes on confirmation. In practice,
the process begins much earlier with the identification
and selection of the appointee, internal vetting and the
time it takes for a potential nominee to complete forms,
an FBI background check and a review by the Oce of
Government Ethics. This process alone can easily take
months—far too long.
While the numbers fluctuate from year-to-year, the
trend of slower confirmations is clear. During President
Bill Clinton’s two terms, the average time between the
formal nomination and Senate confirmation was 81.2
1 Data for the report only includes appointees who were confirmed.
Data for the Trump administration includes nominations through Dec.
31, 2019. The data was compiled by the Partnership for Public Service’s
Center for Presidential Transition ® and was gathered from Congress.gov.
It includes civilian nominations with exceptions for part-time positions,
judges, U.S. marshals, attorneys and positions in the legislative branch.
The confirmation process is defined as the time between a president
sending a formal nomination to the Senate and the confirmation vote.
2 On April 4, 2019, the Senate changed its rules to decrease the amount
of time allowed for debating nominations from 30 hours to two hours.
This change sped up the process for subsequent appointments made by
the president. Confirmations for nominees submitted after the April 4
rule change until the end of the year took an average of 104.5 days.