Slow pace of Trump nominations leaves Cabinet agencies "stuck" in staffing limbo

The Senate has confirmed 26 of Trump’s picks for his Cabinet and other top posts. But for 530 other vacant senior-level jobs requiring Senate confirmation, the president has advanced just 37 nominees, according to data tracked by The Washington Post and the nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service’s Center for Presidential Transition. These posts include the deputy secretaries and undersecretaries, chief financial officers, ambassadors, general counsels, and heads of smaller agencies who run the government day-to-day.

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That’s less than half the nominees President Barack Obama had sent to the Senate by this point in his first term.

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, who has publicly expressed frustration with the process, has routinely peppered the White House Personnel Office for updates and called Trump directly to press for faster action on filling vacant jobs at the Interior Department, said two people familiar with his contacts, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity for this report because of the sensitivity of hiring discussions.

Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price aired his dismay at a recent breakfast meeting with his former congressional colleagues. “He’s very frustrated,” said a Republican House member who was there . “He felt it was much more difficult to operate the department and provide the leadership level that you need to provide.”

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