

Temporarily Filling Presidentially Appointed,
Senate-Confirmed Positions
Henry B. Hogue
Analyst in American National Government
November 10, 2015
Congressional Research Service
7-5700
www.crs.gov
RS21412
Temporarily Filling Presidentially Appointed, Senate-Confirmed Positions
Summary
A vacant presidentially appointed, Senate-confirmed position (herein, “advice and consent
position”) can be filled temporarily under one of several authorities that do not require going
through the Senate confirmation process. Under specific circumstances, many executive branch
vacancies can be filled temporarily under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998 or by recess
appointment. In some cases, temporary filling of vacancies in a particular position is specifically
provided for in statute. Generally, designation or appointment under one of these methods confers
upon the official the legal authority to carry out the duties of the office. Alternatively, an
individual may be hired by the agency as a consultant. A consultant does not carry the legal
authority of the office, and may act only in an advisory capacity.
In many instances, the functions of a vacant advice and consent office may be carried out
indefinitely by another official, usually the first assistant, under the terms of an administrative
delegation order of the agency head. In such instances, the official carries out these functions
without assuming the vacant office.
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Contents
Designations Under the Vacancies Act ............................................................................................ 1
Recess Appointments ...................................................................................................................... 2
Position-Specific Temporary Appointment Provisions ................................................................... 3
Method 1 ................................................................................................................................... 3
Method 2 ................................................................................................................................... 4
Method 3 ................................................................................................................................... 4
Method 4 ................................................................................................................................... 5
Combinations of Tools..................................................................................................................... 5
Unsuccessful Nominations and Payment Limitations ..................................................................... 6
Consultants ...................................................................................................................................... 6
Delegation of Duties to Another Official ........................................................................................ 7
Contacts
Author Contact Information ............................................................................................................ 8
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Temporarily Filling Presidentially Appointed, Senate-Confirmed Positions
ccording to the 2012 edition of the Plum Book,1 more than 1,000 executive branch
positions are filled through appointment by the President with the advice and consent of
A the Senate (herein, advice and consent positions).2 The Constitution and federal statutes
provide several authorities for temporarily filling vacancies in these positions: the Federal
Vacancies Reform Act of 19983 (Vacancies Act); the President’s constitutional recess appointment
power; and position-specific temporary appointment provisions. Each of these authorities is
discussed below.
Designations Under the Vacancies Act
When an executive branch advice and consent position covered by the Vacancies Act becomes
vacant, it may be filled temporarily in one of three ways under the act: (1) the first assistant to
such a position may automatically assume the functions and duties of the office; (2) the President
may direct an officer who is occupying a different advice and consent position to perform these
tasks; or (3) the President may select an officer or employee who is occupying a position, in the
same agency, for which the rate of pay is equal to or greater than the minimum rate of pay at the
GS-15 level, and who has been with the agency for at least 90 of the preceding 365 days.
In general, a temporary appointment under the Vacancies Act continues until no later than 210
days after the date the vacancy occurred or, if the vacancy occurred during a Senate recess, 210
days after the date the Senate reconvenes. The time restriction is suspended, and the acting officer
can continue to serve, if a first or second nomination for the position has been submitted to the
Senate for confirmation and is pending. The acting officer can continue to serve for an additional
210 days after the rejection, withdrawal, or return of such a nomination.
Temporary appointments to vacancies that exist during the 60-day period following the
inauguration of a new President are treated differently, which gives the new President additional
flexibility during the transition. The ordinary 210-day restriction period does not commence until
the later of the following two dates: 90 days after the incoming President assumes office, or 90
days after the vacancy occurs.
In general, once the time limitations of the Vacancies Act have been exhausted, only the head of
the agency may perform any non-delegable function or duty of that office.4
Appointees under the Vacancies Act are authorized to “perform the functions and duties of the
office temporarily in an acting capacity subject to [these] time limitations.”5 The act does not
1 U.S. Congress, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, United States Government Policy and
Supporting Positions, 112th Cong., 2nd sess., committee print, December 1, 2012 (Washington: GPO, 2012), pp. 197-
200. The next edition of this quadrennial print, commonly known as the Plum Book, is expected in late 2016. The
precise number of advice and consent positions is difficult to ascertain; other sources provide different estimates. CRS
usually uses the Plum Book for such information, although some errors have been identified in its data. The Plum Book-
based estimate includes full-time and part-time positions in the executive branch. It does not include positions that are
typically considered to be routine nominations, including members of the officer corps in the military services and
some positions in the Foreign Service. Advice and consent positions are also known as “PAS positions,” after the
abbreviation used in the Plum Book.
2 Prior to October 2012, approximately 1,200-1,400 executive branch positions were filled through the advice and
consent process. The Presidential Appointment Efficiency and Streamlining Act (P.L. 112-166, 126 Stat. 1283) reduced
this number by 163 positions. The act changed the appointment provisions for each of these positions such that, once
vacant, they are no longer to be filled as advice and consent positions. See CRS Report R41872, Presidential
Appointments, the Senate’s Confirmation Process, and Changes Made in the 112th Congress, by Maeve P. Carey.
3 P.L. 105-277, Div. C, Title I, §151; 5 U.S.C. §§3345-3349d.
4 5 U.S.C. §3348.
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apply to positions on multi-headed regulatory boards and commissions, or to new positions that
have never been filled.6
Recess Appointments7
The President’s authority to make recess appointments is conferred by the Constitution, which
states that “[t]he President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the
Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next
Session.”8 Presidents have made such appointments during within-session recesses (intrasession
recess appointments) and between sessions (intersession recess appointments). Recess
appointments expire at the end of the next session of the Senate. As a result, a recess appointment
may last for less than a year, or nearly two years, depending on when the appointment is made.
Presidents have occasionally used the recess appointment power in ways that have had the effect
of circumventing the confirmation process.9 In response, Congress has placed restrictions on the
President’s authority to make recess appointments. Under 5 U.S.C. §5503(a), if the position to
which the President makes a recess appointment falls vacant while the Senate is in session, the
recess appointee may not be paid from the Treasury until he or she is confirmed by the Senate.
The salary prohibition does not apply (1) if the vacancy arose within 30 days before the end of the
session; (2) if a nomination for the office was pending when the Senate recessed, provided that
the nominee was not previously recess appointed to the position; or (3) if a nomination was
rejected within 30 days before the end of the session and another individual was given the recess
appointment. A recess appointment falling under any one of these three exceptions must be
followed by a nomination to the position not later than 40 days after the beginning of the next
session of the Senate.10 For this reason, when a recess appointment is made, the President
generally submits a new nomination for the nominee even when an old nomination is pending.
In some instances, a recess appointee whose nomination to the position is not successful might
not be paid. These instances are discussed below. (See “Unsuccessful Nominations and Payment
Limitations.”)
(...continued)
5 5 U.S.C. §3345(a)(1). However, when the time limitations of the Vacancies Act have been exhausted, it may still be
possible for the functions of a vacant office, except those that are non-delegable, to be carried out indefinitely by
another individual pursuant to a delegation of authority. See “Delegation of Duties to another Official,” below.
6 This law superseded previous, similar statutory provisions. For more on the Vacancies Act, see CRS Report 98-892,
The New Vacancies Act: Congress Acts to Protect the Senate’s Confirmation Prerogative, by Morton Rosenberg.
7 For a further discussion of recess appointments, see CRS Report RS21308, Recess Appointments: Frequently Asked
Questions, by Henry B. Hogue; and CRS Report RL33009, Recess Appointments: A Legal Overview, by Vivian S. Chu.
See also CRS Report RL33310, Recess Appointments Made by President George W. Bush, by Henry B. Hogue and
Maureen O. Bearden; and CRS Report R42329, Recess Appointments Made by President Barack Obama, by Henry B.
Hogue.
8 Article 2, §2, cl. 3 of the Constitution.
9 For example, when President George W. Bush recess appointed Charles W. Pickering to a judgeship on the United
States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, he noted that 2½ years had passed since Pickering’s nomination had been
submitted to the Senate and stated that “a minority of Democratic Senators has been using unprecedented obstructionist
tactics to prevent him and other qualified individuals from receiving up-or-down votes.” The President’s statement at
the time of the recess appointment may be found at http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2004/
01/20040116-19.html.
10 Congress placed limits on payments to recess appointees as far back as 1863. The current provisions date from 1940
(ch. 580, 54 Stat. 751; 5 U.S.C. §56, revised, and recodified at 5 U.S.C. §5503, by P.L. 89-554, 80 Stat. 475).
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From the 110th Congress onward, it has become common for the Senate and House to use certain
scheduling practices as a means of precluding the President from making recess appointments.11
The practices do this by preventing the occurrence of a Senate recess of sufficient length for the
President to be able to use his recess appointment authority.
These congressional scheduling practices might have prevented President George W. Bush from
making recess appointments at the end of his presidency; he made no recess appointments during
the times this approach was in use.12 It also might have limited use of the recess appointment
power by President Obama.13
In January 2012, President Obama appeared to challenge the ability of this practice to prevent the
exercise of his authority. He made four recess appointments during a three-day recess between
pro forma sessions of the Senate on January 3 and January 6, 2012, a period that was generally
considered too short to permit recess appointments. The recess during which the President made
the appointments was part of a period of Senate absence that, but for the pro forma sessions,
would have constituted an intrasession adjournment of longer than 10 days.
In an opinion regarding the lawfulness of these appointments, the Office of Legal Counsel in the
Department of Justice argued that “the President may determine that pro forma sessions at which
no business is to be conducted do not interrupt a Senate recess for the purposes of the Recess
Appointments Clause.” The U.S. Supreme Court later concluded otherwise in a case regarding
three of the four appointments. It held that, for purposes of the Clause, “the Senate is in session
when it says it is, provided that, under its own rules, it retains the capacity to transact Senate
business.” 14 The Court further held that the President’s recess appointment power may be used
only during a recess of longer than 10 days.
Position-Specific Temporary Appointment
Provisions
In some cases, Congress has expressly provided for the temporary filling of vacancies in a
particular advice and consent position. Generally, such provisions employ one or more of several
methods: (1) a specified official is automatically designated as acting; (2) a specified official is
automatically designated as acting, unless the President provides otherwise; (3) the President
designates an official to serve in an acting capacity; or (4) the head of the agency in which the
vacancy exists designates an acting official.
Method 1
The top positions at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA), and the Small Business Administration (SBA), among others, are
temporarily filled through the first method.15 For example, the U.S. Code provides that “[t]he
11 The evolution of this use of scheduling practices is discussed in greater detail in CRS Report R42329, Recess
Appointments Made by President Barack Obama, by Henry B. Hogue.
12 See CRS Report RL33310, Recess Appointments Made by President George W. Bush, by Henry B. Hogue and
Maureen O. Bearden
13 See CRS Report R42329, Recess Appointments Made by President Barack Obama, by Henry B. Hogue.
14 Nat'l Labor Relations Bd. v. Noel Canning, 134 S. Ct. 2550, 2574 (2014). The three recess appointments at issue
were found to be constitutionally invalid.
15 31 U.S.C. §502(b), 49 U.S.C. §106(i), and 15 U.S.C. §633(b)(1).
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Deputy Director [of OMB] acts as the Director when the Director is absent or unable to serve or
when the office of Director is vacant.”16 The relevant statute states that, at the FAA, the “Deputy
Administrator acts for the Administrator when the Administrator is absent or unable to serve, or
when the office of the Administrator is vacant.”17 With regard to the SBA, federal law provides
that the “Deputy Administrator shall be acting Administrator of the Administration during the
absence or disability of the Administrator or in the event of a vacancy in the office of the
Administrator.”18
Method 2
The top positions at the General Services Administration (GSA) and Social Security
Administration (SSA) are temporarily filled through the second method above, in which a
specified official is automatically designated as acting, unless the President provides otherwise.
With regard to GSA, the “Deputy Administrator is Acting Administrator ... during the absence or
disability of the Administrator and, unless the President designates another officer of the Federal
Government, when the office of Administrator is vacant.”19 Similarly, the “Deputy Commissioner
[of SSA] shall be Acting Commissioner of the Administration during the absence or disability of
the Commissioner and, unless the President designates another officer of the Government as
Acting Commissioner, in the event of a vacancy in the office of the Commissioner.”20
Method 3
Positions for which the President is authorized to designate an acting official—the third method
above—include the General Counsel at the National Labor Relations Board and the Special
Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices at the Department of Justice. In
the case of the General Counsel, the service of the President’s designee is limited to a period that
would allow the Senate to act on a nomination:
In case of vacancy in the office of the General Counsel the President is authorized to
designate the officer or employee who shall act as General Counsel during such vacancy,
but no person or persons so designated shall so act (1) for more than forty days when the
Congress is in session unless a nomination to fill such vacancy shall have been submitted
to the Senate, or (2) after the adjournment sine die of the session of the Senate in which
such nomination was submitted.21
The provision regarding the Special Counsel includes no such limitations: “In the case of a
vacancy in the office of the Special Counsel the President may designate the officer or employee
who shall act as Special Counsel during such vacancy.”22
16 31 U.S.C. §502(b). If both the Director and Deputy Director are absent or unable to serve, or both positions are
vacant, “the President may designate an officer of the Office to act as Director” (31 U.S.C. §502(f)).
17 49 U.S.C. §106(i).
18 15 U.S.C. §633(b)(1).
19 40 U.S.C. §302(b).
20 42 U.S.C. §902(b)(4).
21 29 U.S.C. §153(d).
22 8 U.S.C. §1324b(c)(1).
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Method 4
In one manifestation of the fourth method, designation by agency head, in some departments and
agencies, the agency head is empowered to establish a line of temporary succession in the event
of a vacancy in a particular position. For the Department of Education, for example, the Deputy
Secretary automatically takes over in the event of the Secretary’s absence or disability, or when
the position is vacant. In anticipation of potential vacancies in both positions, however, the
Secretary is to establish a line of succession:
The Secretary shall designate the order in which other officials of the Department shall
act for and perform the functions of the Secretary during the absence or disability of both
the Secretary and Deputy Secretary or in the event of vacancies in both of those offices.23
Other provisions allow agency heads to designate individuals to fill vacancies in lower level
positions temporarily. For example, the Attorney General “may designate a person to perform the
functions of and act as marshal,” as long as that individual has not been rejected by the Senate for
appointment to the position.24 An individual appointed in this manner “may serve until the
earliest of the following events: (1) [t]he entry into office of a United States marshal appointed
[through the advice and consent process;] (2) [t]he expiration of the thirtieth day following the
end of the next session of the Senate[;]” or (3) if the designee is nominated by the President and
rejected by the Senate, “the expiration of the thirtieth day following such” rejection.25 This
provision also illustrates the kinds of limitations that are sometimes included in temporary
appointment provisions.
Combinations of Tools
For at least three positions—U.S. Attorney, Solicitor of Labor, and Assistant Secretary of Labor
for Mine Safety and Health—combinations of the tools identified here have been used to fill
vacancies temporarily. By using more than one authority, the Administration has been able to
place unconfirmed individuals in these positions for longer periods of time than would have been
possible if only one authority had been used. With regard to U.S. Attorneys, the Office of Legal
Counsel at the Department of Justice determined, in 2003, that U.S. Attorney vacancies could be
filled temporarily under specific provisions that allow for appointment by the Attorney General,26
under the provisions of the Vacancies Act, or under a combination of these authorities in
sequence.27 The President temporarily filled vacancies in the two Labor Department positions by
using, in succession, his recess appointment and Vacancies Act authorities. He recess appointed
Eugene Scalia to be Solicitor of Labor on January 11, 2001. Several days before the appointment
would have expired, at the close of the 107th Congress, Scalia stepped down from the Solicitor
position and was appointed to a non-career Senior Executive Service position. With the position
of Solicitor technically vacant, the President then gave Scalia a temporary appointment to the
position, on November 22, 2002, under the Vacancies Act. It appears that Scalia could have
served at least 210 days in this capacity, but he resigned from the post on January 6, 2003. A
23 20 U.S.C. §3412(a)(1).
24 28 U.S.C. §562.
25 Ibid.
26 28 U.S.C. §546.
27 A September 5, 2003, opinion by the Office of Legal Counsel at the Department of Justice stated that the Vacancies
Act could be used singly or in combination with 28 U.S.C. §546 to temporarily fill U.S. Attorney positions. (This
opinion may be found at http://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/olc/opinions/2003/09/31/op-olc-v027-p0149_0.pdf.)
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similar sequence of authorities was used to place Richard E. Stickler in the position of Assistant
Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety and Health, first by recess appointment, on October 19, 2006,
and later, under the Vacancies Act, on January 4, 2008.28
Unsuccessful Nominations and Payment
Limitations
In some cases, individuals who are serving temporarily in advice and consent positions are also
nominated to those positions. In the event that such a nomination is not successful, two provisions
of law might subsequently prevent the individual from being paid as an acting official. Unlike the
provisions of 5 U.S.C. §5503, which pertain to recess appointments alone and are discussed
above, the following provisions appear to apply to any situation in which an individual is filling
an advice and consent position on a temporary basis.
A provision of the FY2008 Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act may
prevent the official from being paid if the nomination is rejected. The provision reads, “Hereafter,
no part of any appropriation contained in this or any other Act shall be paid to any person for the
filling of any position for which he or she has been nominated after the Senate has voted not to
approve the nomination of said person.”29 Similar provisions had been included in annual funding
measures for most of, if not all of, the prior 50 years. As a practical matter, nominations are rarely
rejected by a vote of the full Senate.
An individual serving in an acting or temporary capacity in an advice and consent position also
might not be paid for his or her services if he or she has been nominated to the position twice and
the second nomination has been withdrawn or returned. A provision of the FY2009 Financial
Services and General Government Appropriations Act states:
Effective January 20, 2009, and for each fiscal year thereafter, no part of any
appropriation contained in this or any other Act may be used for the payment of services
to any individual carrying out the responsibilities of any position requiring Senate advice
and consent in an acting or temporary capacity after the second submission of a
nomination for that individual to that position has been withdrawn or returned to the
President.30
Consultants
At times, a nominee could be hired as a consultant while awaiting confirmation, but he or she
may serve only in an advisory capacity and may not be installed in the office to which he or she
has been nominated. A nominee to a Senate-confirmed position has no legal authority to assume
the responsibilities of that position based on his or her status as a nominee; the authority comes
with one of the limited-term appointments discussed above, with Senate confirmation and
28 The White House press release announcing Stickler’s recess appointment may be found at http://georgewbush-
whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2006/10/20061019-8.html, and the news release on his subsequent appointment
may be found at http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2008/01/20080104-5.html.
29 P.L. 110-161, Div. D, Title VII, §709; 121 Stat. 2021; 5 U.S.C. prec. §5501.
30 P.L. 111-8, Div. D, Title VII, §749; 123 Stat. 693; 5 U.S.C. prec. §5501.
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subsequent presidential appointment, or through occupying another position to which the
authority of the vacant position has been delegated, as discussed below.31
Delegation of Duties to Another Official
As discussed in this report, the temporary filling of an advice and consent position is governed by
the Vacancies Reform Act of 1998, the Recess Appointments Clause of the Constitution, and
position-specific statutes. However, when the time limitations of the Vacancies Act have been
exhausted, it may be possible for the functions of a vacant office to be carried out indefinitely by
another individual, usually the first assistant, pursuant to a delegation of authority by the agency
head.32 In such instances, the official carries out these functions without assuming the vacant
office. Generally, these functions may include any except those few that are statutorily vested
specifically, and only, in the vacant office (“non-delegable duties”).
In one such instance, described in a 2008 Government Accountability Office (GAO) opinion, the
Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) at the Department of Justice was led by the Principal Deputy
Assistant Attorney General for that office, Steven G. Bradbury, during a prolonged vacancy in the
usual lead position, the Assistant Attorney General for OLC, after the time limitations of the
Vacancies Act had been exhausted. The opinion states
The issue remaining is whether Mr. Bradbury, as Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney
General during the timeframe in which the office [of Assistant Attorney General for
OLC] has been vacant, performed any functions or duties which under the Vacancies Act
may be performed only by the Attorney General as head of the Department. According to
the Department, Mr. Bradbury’s service during the relevant time period has been in
accordance with the Vacancies Act, since the position of Assistant Attorney General for
OLC does not have any duties or functions which are exclusive to the position.33
In contrast to limitations imposed by the Vacancies Act, the first assistant or other official
carrying out these delegated functions during the vacancy need not have served in the agency for
a specified period prior to carrying out these duties. He or she might or might not occupy another
advice and consent position. He or she may be a career or non-career appointee.
31 In Buckley v. Valeo, the Supreme Court held that “any appointee exercising significant authority pursuant to the laws
of the United States is an ‘Officer of the United States,’ and must, therefore, be appointed in the manner prescribed” in
Article II, Section 2, clause 2 of the Constitution (424 U.S. 1, 126 (1976)). This would appear to preclude consultants
and nominees, who have not been so appointed, from exercising such authority. The exclusivity provision of the
Vacancies Reform Act (5 U.S.C. §3347) is consistent with this interpretation. It establishes the act as the “exclusive
means for temporarily authorizing an acting official to perform the functions and duties of” most advice and consent
positions, unless otherwise expressly provided in law, or unless the President uses his recess appointment authority.
32 Arguably, constitutional issues might arise if the functions of a principal officer of the United States, such as a
Secretary, were carried out indefinitely by an official who had not been appointed to the position. Most advice and
consent positions, however, are inferior officers. For a discussion of the distinction, see “Appointments Clause and
Presidential Advisors” in CRS Report R40856, The Debate Over Selected Presidential Assistants and Advisors:
Appointment, Accountability, and Congressional Oversight, by Barbara L. Schwemle et al.
33 U.S. Government Accountability Office, Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998 - Assistant Attorney General for the
Office of Legal Counsel, U.S. Department of Justice, B-310780, June 13, 2008, p. 3-4, available at http://www.gao.gov/
products/A82394.
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Author Contact Information
Henry B. Hogue
Analyst in American National Government
hhogue@crs.loc.gov, 7-0642
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