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A slew of senior job openings at federal agencies will force some regulatory offices to delay work. It's largely the result of a standoff between President Bush and the Democratic Senate, and it's likely to keep several agencies limping along dysfunctionally until a new president fills gaps in the senior ranks of the bureaucracy.
Fully 200 vacancies exist in the upper echelons of the federal government, including at Cabinet departments, regulatory agencies, boards and commissions. That's about one-third of all jobs subject to Senate confirmation. Some 20 regulatory agencies and boards -- many of which are not household names -- lack quorums or are barely operational, which affects their ability to act on a host of issues crowding their agendas.
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), for example, has not issued any decisions since September. The delay affects disposition of pending cases and litigants' complaints in the chemical, textile and steel industries. And the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) may be slower to act on complaints of unsafe working conditions in timber yards and poultry processing plants without a full complement of board members.
The Bush administration doesn't seem particularly unhappy with the situation. Bush has long been cool to aggressive federal regulatory action and oversight affecting business and commerce. Many of his nominees are unacceptable to Democrats, but he won't offer replacement candidates, and the topic is low on his to-do list in his final year in office.
Agencies hit hardest in addition to the NLRB and OSHA: The Federal Trade Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Election Commission and the National Transportation Safety Board. Even the Federal Reserve Board of Governors has two vacancies, a problem for decisions requiring a supermajority. So, too, does the Council of Economic Advisers, which helps develop economic policy for the White House.
Other notable vacancies are at the Federal Communications Commission, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Federal Mine Safety and Health Administration, the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, the Federal Maritime Commission and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The later in the year it gets, the harder it will be for nominees to win confirmation, and many potential candidates may reject overtures if it means running the congressional gauntlet for a job that will last only a few months before the next administration takes office. As a final brake on the process, Democrats are using procedural mechanisms to prevent Bush from making recess appointments when Congress is out of session.
Most of the vacancies, including chairmen, commissioners and under secretaries, will remain unfilled not only for the rest of this year, but probably also well into next year, until the next president appoints his or her own people and they win confirmation.
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POSTED BY: rs (March 18, 2008 09:48 PM)
After Jefferson died his plantation was put up for sale because he was broke and in debt. Not someone I would want to manage the nations finance. Remember that it was Alexander Hamilton's view of govt finance that was used as a model for our country and it made our country great, not Jefferson!
POSTED BY: JW (March 19, 2008 08:12 AM)
This article is embarrassingly misinformed. The NLRB has issued more than 80 decisions since September, all of which are publicly available at the agency’s website (www.nlrb.gov).
POSTED BY: Richard Sammon (March 19, 2008 02:26 PM)
Hi folks, I'm the author of the article on Kiplinger.com.
Like several other agencies discussed in the article, the National Labor Relations Board finds itself having to operate without a full complement of board members.
The agency can function, and that is understood. But there remains a question about the full extent of its operational capacity when the five-member board has three vacancies -- and little prospect of filling them before the end of the year or even early next year because of deadlocks between President Bush and Senate Democratic leaders on numerous nominations.
While the NLRB is not entirely at a standstill, its dozens of decisions in recent months have been largely technical in nature. The board has been unable to address issues that have a major impact on employers and workers.
I think we will see this issue discussed more in the final months of President Bush's second term. Filling many vacancies is not a high priority at this point.
-- Richard Sammon.
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