Report from the Congressional Research Service (CRS) on submission of the president’s budget in transition years.
Based on our examination of presidential transitions, and in particular the 2008–2009 experience, it is time once again to revisit and amend the presidential transition law to place requirements on the White House to better facilitate transition activities, and to enable campaigns and the president-elect to be better prepared to govern.
In this Ready to Govern report, we examine the three phases of the 2008–2009 transition—the pre-election timeframe, the period from the election to the inauguration and President Obama’s first year in office. In each section, we provide a short narrative based on the experiences and reflections of some key participants in the transition, and offer a series of recommendations for each phase on a broad range of transition issues. These include:
- Starting the transition process earlier and making it more transparent so there is no longer a stigma on preparing.
- Reducing the number of Senate-confirmed politically appointed positions.
- Congress and the White House to agree on a calendar of appointments so 500 key officials are confirmed at the six-month mark, rather than the current norm of a year.
The Pre-Election Presidential Transition Act of 2010 allows major party presidential candidates to receive certain support and services from the federal government following the nominating conventions. Previously, federal support had been limited to the period following Election Day.
Obama administration’s 2009 annual report to Congress on White House staff. The list includes the names, titles, salaries and statuses (full-time, part-time or detailee) of White House staff members. This report includes 487 employees — 454 full-time staffers, 1 part-time staffer and 32 detailees as of July 1, 2009.
This calendar provide detailed information regarding the day to day activities of Attorney General Holder during his first few weeks in office. Consistent with the Freedom of Information Act, certain limited aspects of the attorney general’s calendar are not released publicly.
Congressional Research Service (CRS) report on the importance of a smooth transition between presidencies and the responsibilities of both the incoming and outgoing White House administrations, along with issues that occur.
A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report to Congress concerning the management challenges for political appointees within the federal government.
Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Office of President-elect Obama and the White House establishing the relationship between the transition team and the outgoing White House. “The chief of staff and the chair of the president-elect’s transition team enter into this memorandum of understanding in order to establish an orderly process for identifying individuals charged with transition responsibilities, to ensure that the government’s and the office of the president-elect’s standards of conduct are observed, to protect the confidentiality of nonpublic government information made available to the transition team during the transition period, to preserve the constitutional, statutory and common law privileges that attach to such information in the possession of the executive branch, and to protect the confìdentiality of transition information made available to the government.”
Letter ascertaining the winner of the 2008 presidential election from Acting GSA Administrator James Williams to President-elect Barak Obama on Nov. 25, 2008, which triggers to resources and support from the General Services Administration in support of the presidential transition.
This Executive Order, published in the Federal Register, issued by the Bush White House, directs federal agencies to facilitate the 2008-09 presidential transition. The order establishes a Presidential Transition Coordinating Council with the authority to prepare the federal government for the presidential transition.