President Biden’s transition effort cost many times that of President Donald Trump, though he also significantly outraised his predecessor. The president’s team spent nearly $24.4 million through mid-February, according to data disclosed on Monday by the General Services Administration, compared with $4.7 million spent by Trump’s team over the comparable period in 2017.
Transitions are typically paid for by a combination of public and private funds.
The Biden transition team spent more than five times what President Trump’s transition spent four years ago — $24.4 million to Trump’s $4.7 million — according to new disclosures made public Monday.
Biden’s transition spent nearly $13.7 million on payroll, more than 12 times what Trump’s transition spent on “payroll and tax expenses” four years ago. The Biden transition team says that hiring many officials early–several of whom became part of the core White House team–allowed them to hit the ground running after the election since they had already spent months working together remotely.
More than two-thirds of President Biden’s Cabinet nominees are stuck in a procedural bottleneck as they wait to be considered by the Democratic-run chamber.
Biden was sworn into office with more nominees ready to go than any of his recent predecessors. But only seven of his 23 Cabinet-level officials have been Senate-confirmed one month into his administration. Max Stier, CEO of the nonpartisan Center for Presidential Transition said, “I think it’s bad for our country because, at the end of the day, leaders matter and having confirmed leaders in place is incredibly important, certainly for the long-term issues but even for dealing with the now.”
Nearly a month into President Biden’s presidency, just seven of Biden’s 23 Cabinet picks have been confirmed by the Senate — the lowest number of any president in decades. President Donald Trump had twice the number of Cabinet picks confirmed (14) by this point, Obama had 15 and President George W. Bush had 17 — all of them except for his head of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.
The transition team moved quickly on before Biden took office, formally submitting 37 nominees to the Senate on Inauguration Day, according to the Partnership for Public Service.
Posts circulating several weeks into the start of President Joe Biden’s administration claim that under the Presidential Transition Enhancement Act of 2019, former President Donald Trump “retains control of the military until 60 days after the inauguration of a new President” and that according to the U.S. Constitution, “the full transition of power does not occur until March.” This claim is false.
As explained by the Center for Presidential Transition, the GSA provides the president-elect’s team with office space and support services for up to 60 days after the inauguration.
In the wake of the tumultuous and unprecedented presidential transition, an academic research group tracking the transfer of power process is recommending that Congress strengthen transition laws to ensure that funding, resources and information sharing happen expeditiously after an election. One area of legislative reform proposed the possibility of prohibiting outgoing presidents from making pardons and appointments, firing political appointees and using “other unilateral executive powers.”
A few weeks after taking office, Biden and his team are confronted with numerous challenges, including smoothing over chaotic operations, boosting flagging morale and staffing up agencies that dwindled. “They’re going to have the traditional challenge of transition, but now they’ll have to address the institutional damage,” Max Stier, president and chief executive of the nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service, said of the Biden team.
Over the past two weeks, the Biden administration has made an effort to remove a number of Trump appointees the former President installed after the election from various government agencies and boards. While some have gone quietly, others have not, raising questions about the legal authority President Joe Biden holds in removing his predecessor’s appointees, and how successful he will be in rooting out people he doesn’t want.
Every new administration faces the difficult task of filling thousands of key leadership and policymaking jobs. The Trump administration left open more non-competitive positions near the end of its four years in office than the previous two terms, and for some agencies, acting executives outlasted permanent leadership in several key jobs in the federal government.
The Biden administration is almost a week old and so far has four Cabinet-level appointees confirmed, after having fewer hearings before Inauguration Day than recent predecessors. Throughout the transition, the Biden team stressed the need to be ready to govern on day one amid the coronavirus pandemic and economic recession, and then after the deadly riots at the U.S. Capitol on January 6.