Vacant high-ranking positions across the executive branch could be taking a toll on the Biden administration
At risk are President Joe Biden's plans to improve the economy, fight the pandemic and implement the $1 trillion infrastructure law. – For more than a year, the Food and Drug Administration lacked a permanent head when the agency was central in the battle against. Once President Joe Biden nominated Dr. Robert Califf to head the agency, it took the Senate three months to confirm him.
“Without leadership and experts, we've seen departments increasingly stressed,” said Maya MacGuineas, president of the bipartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. “There is a struggle to get appropriations done, there is talk about defaulting on the debt ceiling,” she said, adding that unfilled jobs affect the government's fiscal position and the president's overall agenda.
“Would it be better if it could happen faster? Yes," said former Treasury Secretary Jack Lew. “Ideally the confirmation process would be streamlined." But he added that there needs to be accountability for these important positions and a process for questioning nominees about how they would do the job.
At the Department of Health and Human Services, two major science agencies remain without permanent Senate-confirmed leadership at a time as the administration struggles with its communications on the pandemic and the country might be reopening.had stalled for months in the Senate in part due to his consulting work for pharmaceutical companies and allegations that he had failed to effectively regulate addictive opioids.
in traffic fatalities. The third agency, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, is awaiting full Senate confirmation of Steven Cliff, Biden’s pick to head the agency, after a committee approved the nomination Feb. 2.
. The highway agency, meanwhile, stands at the forefront of prodding states and localities to embrace changes to road design and speed limits to help curtail deaths.Early in his presidency, Biden nominated David Chipman to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, but the former ATF agent and gun control advocate faced opposition in the Senate and was seen as one of the administration’s most contentious nominees. The nomination was withdrawn.
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