Federal Agencies Running on Fumes

[Earth Bound Misfit]

SOURCE:Kiplinger Business Resource Center

Senior level vacancies will slow work at many regulatory agencies well into next year. Some say that's good. (ON EDIT: I'M NOT ONE OF THEM)
By Richard Sammon
March 19, 2008

A slew of senior job openings at federal agencies will force some regulatory offices to delay work. It's largely the result of a standoff between President Bush and the Democratic Senate, and it's likely to keep several agencies limping along dysfunctionally until a new president fills gaps in the senior ranks of the bureaucracy.

Fully 200 vacancies exist in the upper echelons of the federal government, including at Cabinet departments, regulatory agencies, boards and commissions. That's about one-third of all jobs subject to Senate confirmation. Some 20 regulatory agencies and boards -- many of which are not household names -- lack quorums or are barely operational, which affects their ability to act on a host of issues crowding their agendas.

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), for example, has not issued any decisions since September. The delay affects disposition of pending cases and litigants' complaints in the chemical, textile and steel industries. And the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) may be slower to act on complaints of unsafe working conditions in timber yards and poultry processing plants without a full complement of board members.

The Bush administration doesn't seem particularly unhappy with the situation. Bush has long been cool to aggressive federal regulatory action and oversight affecting business and commerce. Many of his nominees are unacceptable to Democrats, but he won't offer replacement candidates, and the topic is low on his to-do list in his final year in office....

The later in the year it gets, the harder it will be for nominees to win confirmation, and many potential candidates may reject overtures if it means running the congressional gauntlet for a job that will last only a few months before the next administration takes office. As a final brake on the process, Democrats are using procedural mechanisms to prevent Bush from making recess appointments when Congress is out of session.

Most of the vacancies, including chairmen, commissioners and under secretaries, will remain unfilled not only for the rest of this year, but probably also well into next year, until the next president appoints his or her own people and they win confirmation.


Full Story at link: http://www.kiplinger.com/businessresource/forecast/archive/federal_agencies_running_on_fumes_080318.html

[JDPriestly]

1. Better no decisions than bad ones. Better no work than bad work.

The Democrats should hold out until November. It's hard on the individuals whose decisions are pending, but they only have to gain in the long run if Democrats are making the decisions.

[librechik]

2. Bush robbed us dry, blind and naked. And now he's taking decisive action

to steal everything that's left before January 2009. That will be his legacy. The new presidency will have to fix America ---with absolutely nothing on hand and the biggest debt in history. When they don't it will be the Democrats fault--elect a Republican in 2012.

Cute, huh? So many positive aspects (and so few negatives) for the Republican base.

[Earth Bound Misfit]

3. It's the NEW Texas 2-Step-

[librechik]

4. yep--and welcome to DU!

:hi:

[Earth Bound Misfit]

5. Thanks!

BACK ATCHA!:hi:

[damntexdem]

6. Well, fumes are what the Bushistas produce, ...

what their EPA allows to be produced,
and all most of us can afford at today's gas prices.