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Nominee Financial Disclosure During a Presidential Transition

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Updated September 6, 2024

Nominee Financial Disclosure During a Presidential Transition

Every four years, the United States conducts a presidential election. In instances where a transition from one presidential Administration to another occurs, one of the President-elect’s tasks is to fill approximately 1,000 Senate- confirmed civilian positions in the executive branch. The Ethics in Government Act (EIGA; 5 U.S.C. §§13101- 13111) requires nominees to certain positions requiring Senate confirmation to complete financial disclosure forms. Federal agencies and the Senate may use the disclosed information to inform the confirmation process and to identify and remediate real or perceived conflicts of interest, as necessary.

Nominee Financial Disclosure Process

Upon winning the presidential election, the President-elect begins the process to transition from campaigning to governing. As noted by the Government Services Administration (GSA), “in just over ten weeks between the election and inauguration, a president-elect must prepare to take control of an executive branch that comprises over 140 agencies, hundreds of sub-components, and millions of civilian and uniformed personnel.”

Part of this transition process is the identification of individuals to fill to-be-vacant roles within the government. The EIGA requires that individuals who are nominated to positions requiring Senate confirmation submit financial disclosure forms, which are then reviewed by the nominee’s prospective agency, the Office of Government Ethics (OGE), and the Senate committee evaluating their nomination. Individuals may begin to file financial disclosure forms upon the President’s announcement of the intent to nominate.

Nominee financial disclosure filers generally complete a public financial disclosure form (OGE Form 278e). Unlike financial disclosure procedures for existing federal employees, OGE has outlined a process for nominees that may involve multiple rounds of questions about financial holdings. Broadly, a nominee should expect to engage with

their prospective agency and OGE as part of the nomination and potential confirmation process. As outlined by OGE, the steps involve action from the nominee, the agency, and OGE. These include the following:

• nominee completes a draft public financial disclosure

form;

• OGE and agency review the draft public financial

disclosure form, ask follow-up questions, and provide additional instructions to the nominee as necessary;

• nominee revises, as needed, the financial disclosure

form and negotiates an ethics agreement with agency and OGE, if necessary;

• OGE transmits the completed and signed financial

disclosure report to the Senate once formal nomination is made by the President; and

• upon confirmation, OGE makes the financial disclosure

and ethics agreement, if any, available on the OGE website.

Figure 1 shows an OGE-created nominee process flowchart for the nominee financial filing and review process.

Figure 1. OGE Nominee Process Flowchart (2024)

Source: OGE, A Road Map to Ethical Readiness for the Presidential Election and Beyond, p. 12, https://www.oge.gov/web/oge.nsf/0/6684E98E54F05E4885258B73005 B7511/.

Senate Committees and Nominees

The President and the Senate share the power to appoint the principal officers of the United States. Article II, Section 2, of the Constitution requires that the President “by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States.” Subsequently, most Senate committees consider presidential nominees to covered positions.

Public financial disclosure by high-level Government employees was introduced into law to provide a tool for identifying and resolving potential conflicts of interest and to increase public confidence in the Government. It is fundamental to the executive branch ethics program. —Office of Government Ethics, Report on Improvements to the Financial Disclosure Process for Presidential Nominees, April 2001, p. 2

Nominee Financial Disclosure During a Presidential Transition

https://crsreports.congress.gov

Most Senate committees have web pages that provide information on the committee’s nomination process. The information on committee nomination web pages varies, but it can include a list of individuals referred to (and potentially considered by) the committee, the status of the nominees, and links to the nomination hearings, if applicable. Table 1 lists URLs for the Senate committees’ nomination web pages.

Table 1. Senate Committee Nomination Web Pages

Committee Nomination Web Page

Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

https://www.agriculture.senate.gov/ library/nominations

Armed Services https://www.armed- services.senate.gov/committee- actions/nominations

Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs

https://www.banking.senate.gov/ legislative-calendar/nominations

Budget No identified website

Commerce, Science, and Transportation

https://www.commerce.senate.gov/ nominations

Energy and Natural Resources

https://www.energy.senate.gov/ nominations

Environment and Public Works

https://www.epw.senate.gov/public/ index.cfm/nominations_1

Finance https://www.finance.senate.gov/ nominations

Foreign Relations https://www.foreign.senate.gov/ activities-and-reports/nominations

Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

https://www.help.senate.gov/ committee-actions/nominations

Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/ legislation/nominations

Indian Affairs https://www.indian.senate.gov/ library/nominations/

Intelligence No identified website

Judiciary https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/ nominations

Rules and Administration

https://www.rules.senate.gov/ hearings/nominations

Small Business and Entrepreneurship

No identified website

Veterans’ Affairs https://www.veterans.senate.gov/ nominations-positions

Source: CRS analysis of U.S. Senate Committee websites. Note: Committees not listed in Table 1 do not appear to regularly review nominations.

Each committee evaluates presidential nominees under the committee’s rules and past practices and collects financial

disclosure information as part of its evaluation. In at least some cases, Senate committees’ rules contain provisions related to the committees’ handling of nominations. For example, the Senate Small Business & Entrepreneurship Committee’s rule on nominations states:

In considering a nomination, the Committee shall conduct an investigation or review of the nominee’s experience, qualifications, suitability, and integrity to serve in the position to which he or she has been nominated. In any hearings on the nomination, the nominee shall be called to testify under oath on all matters relating to his or her nomination for office. To aid in such investigation or review, each nominee may be required to submit a sworn detailed statement including biographical, financial, policy, and other information which the Committee may request. The Committee may specify which items in such statement are to be received on a confidential basis.

The Senate also maintains a nominations web page that includes a tool for searching current and historic nominations. Additionally, Congress.gov, the legislative information system for Congress, provides information about nominations and a tool for searching nominations by name, by position, and by Senate committee that has jurisdiction over the nomination.

Access to Nominee Financial Disclosures

After confirmation by the Senate and appointment by the President, the nominee’s public financial disclosure is available for public inspection (5 U.S.C. §13107). The point of access to the nominee’s financial disclosure depends on the filer. For the top approximately 60 filers in the executive branch (President, Vice President, presidential candidates, and filers in Level I and Level II of the Executive Schedule), forms can be downloaded directly from the OGE website. For certain other presidentially appointed, Senate-confirmed (PAS) positions, the disclosure forms are listed on the OGE website, but access to their disclosure reports requires that the requester file an OGE Form 201 with OGE. For access to the filings, see OGE’s Officials’ Individual Disclosures Search Collection.

For more information on financial disclosure, see CRS Report R47320, Financial Disclosure in the U.S. Government: Frequently Asked Questions. For more information about OGE and its role in the financial disclosure process, see CRS In Focus IF10634, Office of Government Ethics: A Primer; and CRS In Focus IF12019, Executive Branch Ethics and Financial Disclosure Administration: The Role of Designated Agency Ethics Officials (DAEOs). For more information on nominations and Senate Committees, see CRS Report RL30959, Presidential Appointee Positions Requiring Senate Confirmation and Committees Handling Nominations.

Jacob R. Straus, Specialist on the Congress

IF12736

Nominee Financial Disclosure During a Presidential Transition

https://crsreports.congress.gov | IF12736 · VERSION 2 · UPDATED

Disclaimer

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