Personnel Opportunities and Challenges for Trump’s Second Term 

Incoming presidents face a significant challenge and opportunity when entering office to fill more than 4,000 appointed roles across the executive branch. 

We recently reviewed President-elect Donald Trump’s record-setting pace for senior personnel announcements, but little will be known until Inauguration Day about the progress in hiring the largest group of political appointees: the roughly 1,500 Schedule C positions such as chiefs of staff, policy advisors and other roles subordinate to Senate-confirmed leaders as well as more than 750 non-career Senior Executive Service leaders who serve in key roles directly below Senate-confirmed personnel.  

Trump’s re-election gives his incoming administration the unique benefit of learning from its experience in 2016/2017 and to use effective strategies employed by Joe Biden during his 2020/2021 presidential transition.  

Examining hiring data from Trump’s first term – as well as the hiring strategies of Biden’s team – suggests three key opportunities for the incoming Trump administration. 

• Fully resource the personnel operation: Maintaining a fully resourced staff from the transition personnel team through the White House personnel office will allow continuity in vetting, interviewing and appointing or nominating the candidates needed to staff the administration.  

• Make early non-Senate confirmed appointments a high priority: The Trump administration can duplicate the successful Biden strategy by placing senior appointees just below Senate-confirmed positions in their jobs on day one of the new administration.  

• Continue to make nominations expeditiously during the first year: One of the primary reasons Senate confirmed positions remain vacant is delay by the president in formally submitting nominations to the Senate.  

Fully Resource Personnel Operation 

A fully resourced and staffed personnel operation is essential for the president elect’s transition team and for White House during an administration’s first year.  

Due in part to a surge in appropriations from Congress for Fiscal Year 2021, Biden’s personnel operation in the White House in 2020-2021 was larger and more robust than the Trump operation in 2016-2017. Trump’s 2016 transition personnel team had about 100 staff and volunteers in the days following the election. The personnel team peaked at about 30 staff after Inauguration Day. The 2020 Biden transition personnel team had around 250 staff and 200 volunteers. This dropped down to about 80 full-time employees by July of the first year. The Center for Presidential Transition strongly supports a similar surge for this fiscal year. 

The current Trump transition team and future White House personnel office would benefit from staff levels more comparable or even greater than that of the Biden team. Having capacity within the personnel operation is the first prerequisite for the successful placement of appointees across the executive branch.  

Make Early Non-Senate Confirmed Appointments a Priority 

The majority of the more than 4,000 presidential appointments do not require Senate confirmation. These positions provide opportunities to staff the executive branch with the president’s personnel from day one of the new administration.  

Biden’s personnel transition team ensured these positions would be a high priority by creating two separate working groups, one for non-Senate confirmed appointments and another for Senate confirmed positions.  

During his first term, Trump made nearly 400 fewer non-Senate confirmed appointments than Biden at the end of the first quarter of the year, and about 200 fewer non-Senate confirmed appointments than Biden by the end of the first year.  

Trump’s personnel operation would benefit from following the Biden strategy to prioritize non-Senate confirmed appointments. 

Maintain Nominations Progress in the First Year 

Presidential nomination delays are a significant factor in getting Senate confirmed roles filled. Despite growing delays in the confirmation process, nomination delays are often longer than confirmation delays for lower-level positions.  

Biden made nominations at a pace faster than his predecessors during his first 100 days. However, the Biden administration slowed down after that point, finishing the year about on par with Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.  

In contrast, Trump made 150 fewer nominations than Biden in the first 100 days and122 fewer nominations during the first year. Across major agencies,¹ Trump only made nominations for 65% of these positions during his first year while Biden made nominations for 80% of the jobs. 

The pace of nominations during Trump’s first term was particularly delayed below the level of Cabinet secretary. In Cabinet departments with the most layering² of Senate-confirmed appointees— appointees who report up to other appointees—Trump took about 60 to160 days longer than Biden on average to fill positions in the lower levels (e.g., undersecretaries, general counsels, directors and assistant secretaries). This left many positions closest to agency operations vacant for much of the first year and beyond.  

Conclusion 

Each of the last six presidential administrations faced confirmation delays during their first term that were longer than those experienced by their predecessors. It is likely that the next Trump administration will experience a continuation of this trend. 

An average growth in confirmation delays (25.6%) would result in the Trump administration having delays of 240 days. The Trump administration will need to be prepared for these prolonged delays. This requires planning for vacancies and the use of acting officials and other non-Senate-confirmed appointees while waiting for nominees to be confirmed.  

The success of the new administration in carrying out its priorities will partially hinge on the president’s ability to expeditiously get his personnel in place across federal agencies. By maintaining the capacity of his personnel operation and learning from strategies of the Biden administration, Trump can have greater success in placing the talent critical to carrying out his agenda and effectively serving the public interest.