Under the Constitution, high-level leadership positions in the executive branch are filled through appointment by the President "by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate." These posts include most of the approximately two dozen that form the President's Cabinet. In recent decades, it also has become customary for each two-term President to reshuffle his Cabinet during the inter-term transition—the transition that takes place at the end of a President's first term in office and beginning of his second term. The Cabinet

The President's Cabinet is an institution established by custom, rather than by law. Overview of the Appointments Process

The appointments process for advice and consent positions, and therefore for most members of the President's Cabinet, is generally considered to have three stages: selection and nomination by the President, consideration in the Senate, and appointment by the President. Selection and Nomination

In the first stage, the White House selects and clears a prospective Cabinet appointee before sending a formal nomination to the Senate. The Senate historically has confirmed most, but not all, Cabinet nominations. Appointment

Following Senate confirmation, the confirmed nominee is given a commission bearing the Great Seal of the United States and signed by the President. Cabinet Nominations During Inter-Term Transitions Since 1984

The remainder of this report examines all Cabinet nominations made during inter-term transition periods of recent Presidents. Data in this Report

The Appendix of this report lists nominations to Cabinet positions during inter-term transitions for the four most recent Presidents who served two terms in office (Ronald W. Reagan, William J. Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack H. Obama). The data included in the Appendix are nominations to Cabinet positions submitted during the inter-term transition period, which is defined as the period between November 1 of a President's re-election year and December 31 of the first year of his second term. As discussed above, several methods might be used to measure the duration of the appointments process. As shown in the first set of numerical columns in Table 2 , measuring from the date of announcement to the date of confirmation, the mean (average) number of days to confirm was 61.6, while the median was 53.0. The median number of days from receipt to final action was 32.5. Using a measure of the Senate's receipt of the nomination to confirmation, the inter-term Cabinet nomination that took the longest to be confirmed was President Obama's nomination of Regina McCarthy to be Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency in 2013. The Cabinet nomination made during an inter-term transition that proceeded most quickly from receipt to confirmation was also made by President Obama in 2013—the nomination of former Senator John F. Kerry to be Secretary of State. Stages of Senate Consideration

Another way to measure the duration of Senate consideration of nominations is to calculate the length of particular stages within the confirmation process—for example, the number of days elapsed from receipt of the nomination in the Senate (at which point it is immediately referred to committee) to the date on which a nominee's first hearing is held.
Under the Constitution, high-level leadership positions in the executive branch are filled through appointment by the President "by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate." These posts include most of the approximately two dozen that form the President's Cabinet, which is an institution established by custom, rather than by law. In recent decades, it has become customary for each two-term President to reshuffle his Cabinet during the inter-term transition—the transition that takes place at the end of a President's first term in office and beginning of his second term. Typically about half the Cabinet members change during this transition period.
The appointments process for Cabinet and other advice and consent positions is generally considered to have three stages. In the first stage, the White House selects and clears a prospective appointee before sending a formal nomination to the Senate. In the second stage, the Senate initially relies on its committees to investigate each nominee and conduct hearings before taking up and deciding whether to approve the nomination. The Senate historically has confirmed most, but not all, Cabinet nominations. In the final stage of the appointments process, the confirmed nominee is given a commission bearing the Great Seal of the United States and signed by the President.
Since 1984, four two-term Presidents—Ronald W. Reagan, William J. Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack H. Obama—made 48 nominations to Cabinet positions during inter-term transitions. For the purposes of this report, CRS considered an inter-term nomination to be one made between November 1 of each President's reelection year and December 31 of the first year of his second term. In total, the Senate confirmed 46 of these 48 nominations; two nominations submitted by President Clinton were withdrawn during Senate consideration.
The duration of the appointments process, including the pace of Senate consideration, of these Cabinet nominations during inter-term transitions varied considerably. The mean (average) number of days elapsed from Senate receipt of Cabinet nominations during inter-term transitions to final action was 34.8. The median number of days from receipt to final action was 32.5. The Appendix of this report lists the data used to calculate these statistics.
As measured from the date of receipt in the Senate until the date of confirmation, the inter-term Cabinet nomination under Senate consideration for the shortest period was President Obama's nomination of former Senator John F. Kerry to be Secretary of State in 2013, which was confirmed after seven days. The nomination under Senate consideration for the longest period was President Obama's nomination in 2013 of Regina McCarthy to be Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, which was confirmed after 133 days.
Another method of measuring the duration of the appointments process during inter-term transitions is to measure the number of days elapsed using, as a starting point, the date of the President's announcement of his intention to nominate the individual, rather than receipt of the nomination in the Senate. The mean (average) number of days elapsed using this methodology was 61.6, and the median was 53.0.
This report will be updated as events warrant.