Speed up appointments

Tuesday, April 26, 2011 | 2:01 a.m.

Presidential nominees for positions requiring Senate confirmation are closely scrutinized in a process that can take months and get bogged down by partisan wrangling.

In a recent piece in The Washington Post, the leaders of the bipartisan commission tasked with reviewing the system for making federal nominations called the process “broken” and in need of reform. The commission’s leaders, former Republican Senate leader Bill Frist and Bill Clinton’s former White House chief of staff, Mack McLarty, said that at any given time as many as a third of the 1,409 positions subject to confirmation are vacant.

As The New York Times reported Monday, a bill in the Senate would make strides toward streamlining the process. It has gained the support of both Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

The legislation would eliminate the requirement of Senate confirmation for 205 presidential appointees. Most of those positions are for part-time boards and commissions, and the full-time positions would include appointees who don’t make policy decisions, including those dealing with public affairs, human resources and management. Senior positions, including ambassadors and key policy jobs, would still be reviewed by the Senate.

The bill’s supporters say it would give a new president the ability to get up and running quickly. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee approved the bill this month. The Senate Rules Committee is working on complementary proposals that would streamline confirmation for another 250 nominees and would mandate a quick vote for many positions.

Some conservatives have grumbled about the legislation, saying it would give the president too much power to appoint people. They say that it would allow a president to appoint people without any oversight.

But the change wouldn’t touch Congress’ ability to oversee government and hold hearings into its operations. It would merely trim the number of positions reviewed, which is needed. At the end of the Clinton administration, the Senate was responsible for confirming 914 positions, nearly 500 fewer than it does today, said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.

The system too often gets bogged down, and that’s not only because of the rigorous vetting process. Senators often use the chamber’s rules to delay the confirmation process as a way to gain political leverage.

That’s not the way things should work. Voters elect a president to run the executive branch of government, and he can’t do that if his appointees can’t take office in a timely manner.

Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, chairman of the governmental affairs committee, said that 18 months into President Barack Obama’s term, a quarter of his nominees were still unconfirmed. And Lieberman said that wasn’t unique. He said it was essentially the same the last three times a new president has taken office.

The confirmation process also has an effect on Congress. The Senate sees its work hindered as it reviews people for 1,400 positions, which takes an untold amount of time and money.

The proposals provide plenty of opportunity for the Senate to approve nominees, while streamlining the process both for lawmakers and the president. It should be supported.