Mike Thompson: “I am introducing today the Presidential Appointments Improvement Act of 2001 on behalf of myself and Senator Lieberman…”

“I am introducing today the Presidential Appointments Improvement Act of 2001 on behalf of myself and Senator Lieberman, and Senators Akaka, Durbin, Lugar, and Voinovich. This proposal reflects multiple recommendations made by the many commissions and organizations that have studied the Presidential appointments process. These include a number of national commissions, non-profit organizations like the Presidential Appointee Initiative and the Transition to Governing Project, and a 1993 study and recommendations by the American Bar Association. Clearly, we have a problem. The Presidential appointments process is unnecessarily long, burdensome, and complex. And although President Bush has sent a notable number of nominees to Congress at this point in his first year, major gaps remain in critical positions throughout government. We are faced with responding to the events of September 11 with a 25-percent vacancy rate in positions considered important to Homeland Security. The time it takes for a new President to put his team in place exacerbates the human capital problems that our government faces. There is a growing recognition that we need to manage our people better. But with the downsizing of the past decade and the impending wave of retirements, the time consuming nature of the appointments process will leave many federal departments and agencies hollow and headless.”