Pursuant to a congressional request, a report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) examined the number and patterns of career appointments to the civil service made between October 1984 and June 1994.

The principal purpose of this fact sheet is to identify the extent of and the bases for the promises made by 41 Senate-confirmed political appointees in the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to disqualify themselves from certain agency matters to avoid conflicts between their personal interests and their governmental responsibilities.