The Appointment Process for Advice and Consent Positions

The President and the Senate share the power to appoint the principal officers of the United States. Three distinct stages mark the appointment process: selection, clearance, and nomination by the President; consideration by the Senate; and appointment by the President. There are a number of steps in this stage of the process for most Senate-confirmed positions. Appointment

In the final stage, the confirmed nominee is given a commission bearing the Great Seal of the United States signed by the President and is sworn into office. President George W. Bush submitted to the Senate 172 nominations to executive department full-time positions. Of these 172 nominations, 125 were confirmed; 13 were withdrawn; and 34 were returned to the President under the provisions of Senate rules. President Bush did not make any recess appointments to the departments during this period. This report provides, for each executive department nomination that was confirmed in the 110 th Congress, the number of days between nomination and confirmation ("days to confirm"). For confirmed nominations, an average (mean) of 104 days elapsed between nomination and confirmation. The median number of days elapsed was 92. The methodology used in this report to count the length of time between nomination and confirmation differs from that which was used in previous similar CRS reports. The statistics presented here include the days during which the Senate was adjourned for its summer recesses and between sessions of Congress. The methodological change reduces the direct comparability of statistics in this report with those of the earlier research. Reasons for the change include the conversion of long recesses into a series of short recesses punctuated by pro forma sessions during the 110 th Congress; the fact that although committees may not be taking direct action on nominations in the form of hearings or votes, they are likely still considering and processing nominations during recesses; and a desire to be consistent with the methodology used by a majority of political scientists as well as CRS research on judicial nominations. In addition, an argument could be made that the decision to extend Senate consideration of nominees over the course of a recess is intentional, and the choice to extend this length of time is better represented by including all days, including long recesses. The second table presented, the list of nomination action within each department, relies primarily upon the Senate nominations database of the Legislative Information System (LIS).
The appointment process for advice and consent positions consists of three main stages. The first stage is selection, clearance, and nomination by the President. This step includes preliminary vetting, background checks, and ethics checks of potential nominees. At this stage, the president may also consult with Senators who are from the same party if the position is located in a state. The second stage of the process is consideration of the nomination in the Senate, most of which takes place in committee. Finally, if a nomination is approved by the full Senate, the nominee is given a commission signed by the President, which makes the nomination official.
During the 110th Congress, the President submitted to the Senate 172 nominations to executive department full-time positions. Of these 172 nominations, 125 were confirmed; 13 were withdrawn; and 34 were returned to him in accordance with Senate rules. For those nominations that were confirmed, an average of 104 days elapsed between nomination and confirmation. The median number of days elapsed was 92.
The methodology used in this report to count the length of time between nomination and confirmation differs from that which was used in previous similar CRS reports. The statistics presented here include the days during which the Senate was adjourned for its summer recesses and between sessions of Congress. The methodological change, which may reduce the comparability of statistics in this report with those of the earlier research, is discussed in the text of this report as well as in an appendix. Reasons for the change include the conversion of long recesses into a series of short recesses punctuated by pro forma sessions during the 110th Congress; the fact that although committees may not be taking direct action on nominations in the form of hearings or votes, they are likely still considering and processing nominations during recesses; and a desire to be consistent with the methodology used by many political scientists as well as CRS research on judicial nominations. In addition, an argument could be made that the decision to extend Senate consideration of nominees over the course of a recess is intentional, and the choice to extend this length of time is better represented by including all days, including long recesses.
President George W. Bush did not make any recess appointments to executive department full-time positions during the 110th Congress.
Information for this report was compiled from data from the Senate nominations database of the Legislative Information System http://www.congress.gov/nomis/, the Congressional Record (daily edition), the Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, telephone discussions with agency officials, agency websites, the United States Code, and the 2008 "Plum Book" (United States Government Policy and Supporting Positions).
This report will not be updated.