The Center is designed to help presidential candidates and federal agencies successfully navigate the presidential transition process, and to highlight the importance of ensuring that the winner of the 2020 election is fully prepared to govern.
While we work confidently with the presidential transition teams, our experts are available to the news media as a nonpartisan source of information on transition-related issues. These experts have been featured in outlets such as The Washington Post, Special Report with Bret Baier, The Atlantic and US News and World Report, among others. Since 2016, we have collaborated with The Washington Post on a tracker following over 700 key executive branch positions requiring Senate-confirmation, including Cabinet secretaries, deputy and assistant secretaries and ambassadors.
MEDIA CONTACTS
For more information on our media efforts, please see our resources, or reach out to a member of our communications team:
Austin Laufersweiler
Press Secretary
(202) 775-9111
[email protected]
RESOURCES
2020 Presidential Transition Guide
The Partnership’s comprehensive guide on the activities required during the transition. This updated guide, produced in collaboration with the Boston Consulting Group, features detailed outlines of transition best practices, historical materials from past transitions, and recommendations for a successful presidential transition to a new or second-term administration.
Presidential Transition Act Summary
In passing the Presidential Transition Act of 1963, Congress explained: “Any disruption occasioned by the transfer of the executive power could produce results detrimental to the safety and well-being of the United States and its people.” To promote the orderly transfer of power, Congress established a framework for the federal government to prepare for a transition from one president to another.
Learn more
Political Appointee To Civil Servant: What the Public Should Know About “Burrowing In”
During election seasons, the status of political appointees in the federal workforce come under increased scrutiny. Under all recent presidents, some political appointees have attempted to become civil servants — a process commonly called “burrowing in.” Unlike political appointments, civil service positions do not terminate at the end of an administration. Conversion therefore allows political appointees to stay in government after the president who appointed them has left office.
Learn more
The Vacancies Act: Frequently Asked Questions
This resource provides answers to many of the most frequently asked questions about the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998.
Biden’s Cabinet half-empty after slow start in confirmations
March 2, 2021
Publication Type: In the News
President Joe Biden’s Cabinet is taking shape at the slowest pace of any in modern history, with fewer than a dozen nominees for top posts confirmed more than a month into his tenure. Among Biden’s 23 nominees with Cabinet rank, just 11 have been confirmed by the Senate, or about half. According to the Center…
Biden’s confirmation traffic jam
February 26, 2021
Publication Type: In the News
President Biden has submitted more nominees to the Senate — but received fewer confirmations — than recent presidents, data from the The Partnership for Public Service’s Center for Presidential Transition shows. Why it matters: The new president is facing a pandemic without a surgeon general or head of the Department of Health and Human Services, he…
Transfer of Power: Most Expensive Transition Ever
February 22, 2021
Publication Type: In the News
The Biden transition team spent more than five times what President Trump’s transition spent four years ago — $24.4 million to Trump’s $4.7 million — according to new disclosures made public Monday. Biden’s transition spent nearly $13.7 million on payroll, more than 12 times what Trump’s transition spent on “payroll and tax expenses” four years ago. The…
Rocky Presidential Transition Prompts Calls for Changes in the Law
February 5, 2021
Publication Type: In the News
In the wake of the tumultuous and unprecedented presidential transition, an academic research group tracking the transfer of power process is recommending that Congress strengthen transition laws to ensure that funding, resources and information sharing happen expeditiously after an election. One area of legislative reform proposed the possibility of prohibiting outgoing presidents from making pardons…
The Washington Post and Partnership for Public Service announce the launch of Political Appointee Tracker for Biden-Harris administration
December 17, 2020
Publication Type: In the News
The Washington Post and Partnership for Public Service today announced the launch of the Political Appointments Tracker to follow and analyze the progress of President-elect Biden’s Senate-confirmed political appointments. The tracker, first launched in 2016, will allow readers to track more positions than ever before, and provide historical comparisons to past administrations, starting with the Trump administration, and data visualizations…
TRANSITION EXPERTS
