The Longer You Wait, the Longer It Takes: Presidential Transition Planning and Appointment Politics

Abstract Contemporary research on presidential appointments tends to focus on the Senate’s political climate as a primary cause of its “broken politics.” In contrast, we focus on the role the president plays in setting the stage for Senate confirmation of federal appointees. Our empirical approach suggests that an active president who demonstrates initiative in the transition planning phase of an administration can better control the agenda of the Presidentially Appointed and Confirmed by the Senate (PAS) appointment process by jump-starting it before the Senate’s policy workload accumulates and legislative politicking takes over. This approach suggests that better transition planning can hasten the overall appointments process.