The White House’s Office of Presidential Personnel didn’t respond to a request for comment. (We started looking at the data after it was flagged by the New York Times’ Derek Willis.) The data doesn’t include the vast majority of judicial appointments, for which vacancies have also risen under Obama. The data comes from the Plum Book, a directory of federal appointees released every four years. While the uptick compared with the Bush administration may sound small, it translates into dozens more vacant positions. Overall, more than 13 percent of presidentially appointed positions hadn’t been filled at the end of Obama’s first term, compared with around 10 percent for Bush and 11 percent for Clinton. “Your authority is not going to be recognized in the same way a Senate-confirmed appointee is going to be recognized.” Too many vacancies can put agencies “in stand-down, waiting for policymakers to show up,” said Terry Sullivan, a political science professor at the University of North Carolina who has studied appointments.Īcting heads of agencies “don’t make any big decisions,” said Cal Mackenzie, a professor of government at Colby College who has studied appointments since the 1970s. The lack of appointed leaders can create problems. The department had three vacancies midway through Clinton’s presidency and only one midway through Bush’s. At the Department of the Interior, for instance, six of its 18 appointed positions were vacant at the end of Obama’s first term. The vacancies have been spread across dozens of different departments and agencies, with some hit harder than others. Bush’s first terms.Īt least 68 of the positions remain vacant, including 43 that have been vacant for more than a year. A greater share of presidentially appointed positions that require Senate confirmation were sitting vacant at the end of Obama’s first term than at the end of Bill Clinton’s or George W. But an analysis of appointments data by ProPublica shows that President Obama hasn’t kept up with his predecessors in filling them. And the Election Assistance Commission hasn’t had any commissioners at all since 2011.Īll presidential administrations have vacancies. The Federal Labor Relations Authority has had only a single member since January and can’t issue decisions. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services haven’t had a Senate-confirmed administrator since 2006.

Days left in obama administration