Cover credit – FMT
The presidential transition is the process that occurs when an incumbent president is leaving office – either through term limits, electoral defeat, or refusal to seek another term – and the president-elect and his/her team utilizes the near-two-month gap between Election Day and Inauguration Day to acclimate to the role.
As of press time, the transition period is in its final week of operation. President-elect Donald Trump (R-FL) is scheduled to be inaugurated as the forty-seventh president on Monday, January 20 at noon. President Joe Biden’s (D-DE) term expires at the same time.
Legal Basis
The Twentieth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which was ratified in 1933, changed the beginning and ending dates of a presidential term from March 4 to January 20. The original intent of the March 4 date was to allow ample time for election votes to be tabulated, for dignitaries and appointees to travel between Washington, D.C., and their home states, as well as for the Electoral College to meet in their respective state capitals to certify the results, and for Congress to convene in a joint-session to officially preside over the results.
However, technological advances that sped up vote-counting made such a long lame-duck window moot, and the lame-duck period was viewed as too long for an exiting president and Congress to remain in power. The period also meant a power drawback, as four months was and is seen as too little time to act on serious issues. At the time of the adoption of the Twentieth Amendment, the secession of states was cited as such an issue.
As such, the Constitution now stipulates that the new Congress meets every January 3, with Electoral College certifications held every January 6.
The Presidential Transition Act of 1963 provides the current means of an orderly and peaceful transition of power. Under federal law and customs of the candidates, the major-party presidential candidates receive classified national security briefings once their nomination is formalized by their party. While the transition period can technically begin at any time, the period doesn’t usually “kick off” until the General Services Administration (GSA) declares an “apparent winner” of the election. Once this occurs, funds appropriated by Congress are then released to conduct the transition.
The Pre-Election Presidential Transition Act of 2010 requires the General Services Administration (GSA) to provide potential transition teams with office spaces, facilities, funding for transition staff, and access to government services. The Presidential Transition Act of 2019 requires the incumbent president to establish “transition councils” by the June of an election year in anticipation of a possible transition of power.
While transition teams are typically relegated to the typical November election change, transitions can arise on an ad hoc basis in events of a president’s death, resignation, or inability to conduct the duties of the office.
The Plum Book
United States Government Policy and Supporting Positions is a book that lists all positions in the federal government that are subject to political appointment. It lists around 8,000 federal civil service leadership and support positions in the executive (presidency) and legislative (congressional) branches of the federal government. Such positions may be subject to noncompetitive nationwide appointment.
The publication comes from the U.S. Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs and the House Committee on Government Reform. A new edition is printed every four years immediately following each presidential election and is updated to reflect changes, new positions, but primarily, those that require the incoming administration will be required to fill.
Once the president fills the positions with appointees, the book is updated to include Officers of the United States – those with leadership roles that are granted small aspects of federal power to execute the duties of their offices – as well as their subordinates, advisors, aides, and executives. Some positions are classified through executive privilege.
The book received its more common name, the Plum Book, from the concept of “plum” jobs, those that are considered top positions or assignments. The term “plum” is also used to describe congressional committee assignments, in that “plum assignments” are typically those on committees of high importance, national and/or international consequence, as well as the general “feather in the cap” for those who receive the assignments. In short, the book receives its name for containing a list of “plum” jobs on Capitol Hill. Moreover, the book’s cover is regularly plum-colored.
The Plum Book was born in 1952 during the administration of President Dwight Eisenhower (R-KS) to identify all presidentially appointed federal positions. After decades of Democratic control, congressional Republicans requested the list once Eisenhower took office. Ever since then, the book is updated and published quadrennially. Older editions of the Plum Book are held by federal depository libraries, while the Government Publishing Office began work in 2012 to make the Plum Book an app. The 2024 edition of the Plum Book is available to read for free at www.govinfo.gov.
The book contains eight categories and abbreviations for appointed positions within the federal government:
Career Appointments (CA) are permanent and officeholders remain in place until retirement age. CAs require three years of substantial, continuous service.
Non-career Appointments (NA) are temporary and limited in duration.
Presidential Appointments without Senate Confirmation (PA) are those the president can appoint to a position without that appointee sitting before the Senate committee of their prospective department and without that appointee requiring a majority of votes from the full Senate. The White House Chief of Staff is the only Cabinet-level position that does not require Senate confirmation.
Presidential Appointment with Senate Confirmation (PAS) require the appointee to attend a hearing before the Senate committee(s) directly concerned with the appointee’s prospective department. For example, as former Congressman Lee Zeldin (R-Shirley) is up for consideration as Commissioner of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), he is scheduled for a hearing – which serves as a de facto interview with Senators from across the country – with the Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW) on Thursday, January 16 at 10:00a.m. Other Senate committees have been interviewing other appointees before the full 100-member Senate votes on whether or not to confirm the appointees.
Schedule C Excepted Appointment (SC) is a type of federal appointment for confidential or policy roles that are immediately subordinate to other appointees. These are typically seen as the lowest level of appointments. Lee Atwater, an advisor to presidents Ronald Reagan (R-CA) and George H. W. Bush (R-TX), and Bush’s campaign manager in 1988, is said to have believed in rewarding young campaign staffers with Schedule C positions.
Limited Term Appointments (TA) are made for a limited period, usually for positions estimated to last for two years or left, and can be terminated upon the completion of a project within that two-year duration. TAs also do not confer civil service employment rights beyond the specified time.
Appointments Excepted by Statute (XS) are civil service positions that are not in the competitive services – positions open to all applicants where applicants are screened on merit – or the Senior Executive Service (SES). They are authorized and excepted (not included) from the competitive service by statute, the President, or the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM). Excepted services can include security and intelligence, interns, foreign services, doctors, lawyers, and judges.
Senior Executive Service (SES) positions are equivalent in the federal civil service system to general officer or flag officer ranks in the U.S. Armed Forces. The SES was created in 1979 to be a body of executives who serve in key positions just beneath the top presidential appointees. SES positions are non-competitive, senior leadership positions filled by career employees or political appointments.
The Plum Book currently lists 5,826 civil service jobs within the eighteen Executive Branch departments, 2,087 positions within the dozens independent agencies and government corporations, and 22 positions within the Legislative Branch – Architect of the Capitol, Government Accountability Office, Government Publishing Office, and the Library of Congress.
The Transition Process
Possible successors can begin forming an anticipatory transition team well ahead of an election. After Donald Trump became the presumptive Republican nominee in 2016, he began assembling a transition team in May. Key goals of this action include organizing the top positions of the staff, allocating responsibilities, and establishing working relationships with Congress, the outgoing administration, the GSA, the Office of Government Ethics, the FBI, and OPM to begin sharing information and issuing security clearances for team members.
The GSA makes its official ascertainment of an election winner, after which transition funds – usually to the tune of around $10 million – as well as access, equipment, and clearances can be issued.
Typically, sitting Cabinet members and other high-level appointees tender their resignations in concordance with the inauguration of a new president. While deputy secretaries are also typically expected to resign in the same fashion, they’re commonly asked to remain in an acting capacity until new secretaries are confirmed by the Senate.
Trump has named Linda McMahon (R-CT) and Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick (R-NY) as his transition co-chairs, both of whom are up for secretary positions in Education and Commerce, respectively. Honorary co-chairs include Vice President-elect J.D. Vance (R-OH), Tulsi Gabbard (R-HI), and the president-elect’s sons Donald Trump, Jr. and Eric Trump.
