Fewer Political Appointees, More Bureaucrats Please

Today, President Obama made fifteen "recess appointments", largely to help fill administrative spots that have been vacant since he was inaugurated. Even though these nominees had majority support in Congress and many of them passed through the appropriate committees with ease, Republicans placed "holds" on them which prevented them from being voted on.

While this does speak to the need for Senate reform to allow majority votes on all things not required by the Constitution to be super-majority votes, it also shines a light on another problem.

Look at where these nominees are going:

Rafael Borras: Nominee for Under Secretary for Management , Department of Homeland Security

P. David Lopez: Nominee for General Counsel, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

Francisco "Frank" J. Sánchez: Nominee for Under Secretary for International Trade, Department of Commerce

Eric L. Hirschhorn: Nominee for Under Secretary of Commerce for Export Administration and head of the Bureau of Industry and Security, Department of Commerce

There are currently 77 of Obama nominees pending on the floor, being held up by Republican procedural tactics. There have been hundreds of nominees that have moved through the Senate over the past 14 months.

Why are so many of these offices filled by Presidential appointment, rather than by career civil servants? In each Department (Defense, Treasury, HUD, etc) we have the Secretary and many Deputy Secretaries, Assistant Secretaries, and Under Secretaries. Not to mention many more Deputy Assistant Secretaries, Deputy Under Secretaries, General Counsels, Administrators, Deputy Administrators...

All these positions must be filled for each division within each executive department. And many of these divisions have oversight and review boards that are also filled with Presidential appointees.

It is important for the President to be able to execute the laws in the manner he sees fit. For example, the Justice Department under a Republican President focuses more on restricting access to the ballot box (strictly enforcing laws against voter fraud), while Democratic Presidents focus on increasing access (loosely enforcing those same laws). I think the President should have the power to appoint people who can enforce those overarching directives.

But with over 2 million people in the civil service I find it hard to believe that so many lower-level leadership positions can only be filled by Presidential appointments. Congress should look into converting 25% of these political-apppointee positions into civil servant jobs. By filling more slots with permanent civil servants, the government would operate more smoothly during an Administration turn-over and prevent small divisions from being leaderless while Congressional obstruction keeps the top position from being filled.

Fewer Political Appointees, More Bureaucrats Please