FAQs: The Partnership and Washington Post Trump Political Appointee Tracker 

The Partnership for Public Service recently launched the Trump Political Appointee Tracker in collaboration with The Washington Post. This marks the third iteration of the tracker, which we first introduced in 2016.  

Presidents have the ability to fill the executive branch and independent agencies with roughly 4,000 political appointments—with more than 1,300 of these positions requiring Senate confirmation. Our updated tracker will monitor the progress of roughly 800 of the most senior Senate-confirmed roles in the Trump administration, from nomination to confirmation. 

The tracker serves two primary purposes: to catalogue the people serving in key leadership posts and to document the progress of nominations as they move through the Senate’s confirmation process. 

What positions are included and not included? 

Positions in the tracker include Cabinet secretaries, deputy and assistant secretaries, chief financial officers, general counsels, ambassadors and other full-time, civilian leadership positions in the executive branch that require Senate confirmation. It does not include judges, marshals and U.S. attorneys or military appointments and part-time positions requiring Senate confirmation. 

The tracker does not show officials serving in an acting capacity, so unfilled positions are not necessarily vacant. All presidents designate temporary officials to fulfil the responsibilities of some Senate-confirmed positions and to preserve continuity during transitions.  

What makes this tracker unique?  

The Trump Appointee Tracker is a unique place to get real-time information about what positions exist and who is filling them.  

The government is meeting new requirements to provide this information in the Periodically Listing Updates to Management online database. Traditionally this information (referred to as the Plum Book) was only available every four years and sometimes contained errors. The law requiring the new online database only requires the information to be updated yearly, whereas our tracker is updated in as close to real time as possible.  

How often is the tracker updated? 

The tracker will be updated daily as positions are considered and filled. When the frequency of confirmations decreases, the tracker will be updated on a weekly basis. 

How does the nomination process work? 

Presidents formally nominate individuals to the Senate to fill each position listed on our tracker, a responsibility established in the Constitution. The Senate refers most nominations to a specific committee with jurisdiction over the position. Committees scrutinize the nominees and hold hearings to discuss their views, qualifications and histories. After the hearing, committees usually take a vote on whether to report out the nomination favorably or the committee can refrain from taking action on the nomination. (Committees also have the option of taking a vote to report the nomination unfavorably or without recommendation, although this rarely happens—nominations typically move forward from committee or die in committee.) 

Once a nomination is reported to the full Senate, the majority leader may bring it before the chamber for final consideration by the full body. A simple majority is necessary to win confirmation. Some nominations are approved through a unanimous consent agreement and by voice vote. However, the Senate has rules that allow for individual senators to voice concerns about the nomination process, allowing even one senator to prolong consideration of the nomination and requiring the Senate to go through the so-called cloture process to limit debate time on a nominee and get to the final vote. 

Under Senate rules, nominations pending when the Congress adjourns at the end of a session or for a recess of more than 30 days are returned to the president, unless the Senate waives the rule by unanimous consent. Should the president want to renominate an individual, the nominee must refresh paperwork and the nomination process starts all over again. 

Where does the information recorded in the appointee tracker come from? 

Most of the information regarding nominations and the Senate’s process comes from Congress.gov, the official website for U.S. federal legislative information. Some information about Senate-confirmed positions generally comes from the Plum Book. However, each administration may add new positions or change position titles. The tracker reflects those changes when they are made public. 

Information on resignations and informal appointee announcements comes from publicly available sources such as news stories and government websites. President-elect Trump often announces his nominees on his social media accounts.  

In some cases, public information on the status of certain officials or positions is inconsistent or nonexistent. The information provided in this tracker is based on the best publicly available details. 

What are the biggest challenges in maintaining the information? 

There are two aspects of the updating process that are most challenging. First, each administration has discretion on how to arrange and title some positions. This makes it hard to know what positions are filled and how some positions may change over time. In fact, even coming up with a total specific number of Senate-confirmed positions is a challenge.  

Second, tracking when people leave positions can be difficult. When appointees leave high profile positions, there is usually media coverage that is easy to follow. However, when people in lesser-known positions resign, there is often little to no media coverage. Agency websites list people in leadership positions, but are not always updated regularly.  

Is it possible that the tracker is missing a nominee or update? 

There’s a chance. The Partnership for Public Service and Washington Post have staff members and processes devoted to following nomination and confirmation developments. However, it is possible changes will occur that are not yet identified in the tracker, especially for lower-profile positions. If you think something is missing that should be included, please contact [email protected].