Over the next few weeks, U.S. civil servants will spend the holidays wrestling with a tough choice: Stay in your jobs and work for a president who openly disdains you and might try to fire you — or quit.

“The signing of this agreement is good news, and a positive step toward an effective transfer of power,” said Max Stier, the president and CEO of the Partnership for Public Service. “This agreement unlocks direct access to information from federal agencies, which is vital for the incoming administration to be ready to govern on Day One and critical to the transition’s success.”

So far, the transition has not collaborated with the General Services Administration, the government agency tasked with handing power from one administration to the next. Laura Barrón-López discussed more with Max Stier.

According to the Presidential Transition Act, this pledge was required to be submitted by Oct. 1. Max Stier, founding president and CEO of the Partnership for Public Service, joins “America Decides” to discuss.

“This is uncharted territory,” said Max Stier, the president and chief executive of the Partnership for Public Service, which helps incoming administrations navigate transitions. “No prior transition effort has really just stepped past the entire architecture of support that has grown up to help make sure that an incoming administration is prepared on Day One to run our government.”

Max Stier heads the Partnership for Public Service, which has assisted past transitions. He says this delay sends a very bad signal and could mean Trump is about to repeat history.