Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998

Congressional Research Service summary

The Congressional Research Service summary on the legislation states: Revises provisions regarding the filling of Federal vacancies to authorize the President, if an appointed officer of an executive agency (defined to include the Executive Office of the President and exclude the GAO) dies, resigns, or is otherwise unable to perform office functions, to direct a person who serves in an office for which appointment is required to perform such functions temporarily in an acting capacity, subject to specified time limitations. Retains the requirement that the first assistant of such officer shall perform such functions temporarily in an acting capacity as well, subject to specified time limitations and the limitations described below. Bars a person from serving as an acting officer if:

1. on the date of the officer's inability to serve, such person serves in the position of first assistant;
2. during the 365-day period preceding such date, such person served as first assistant for less than 180 days; and
3. the President submits a nomination of such person to the Senate for appointment to such office.

Applies vacancy provisions of the Federal judicial code with respect to the office of the Attorney General. Revises time limitations on temporary appointments, limiting service to 150 (currently, 120) days, or, once a first or second nomination for the office is submitted to the Senate, to the period the nomination is pending. Changes the 120-day limitation to 150 days with respect to provisions regarding rejection, withdrawal, or return of nominations. Makes vacancy and time limitation provisions applicable to any affected office for which an advice and consent appointment is required unless:

1. another statutory provision expressly supersedes such provisions;
2. a statutory provision in effect on this Act's enactment date expressly authorizes the President, a court, or the head of an executive department to designate an officer to perform the functions of a specified office temporarily in an acting capacity or designates an officer to perform functions of a specified office in such temporary acting capacity; or
3. the President makes an appointment to fill a vacancy during a Senate recess.

Sets forth additional requirements with respect to presidential nominations to fill vacant offices, requiring that an office, if it remains vacant after 150 days after the rejection, withdrawal, or return of a second presidential appointment nomination, remain vacant until a person is appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. Permits, in such instance, only the head of an executive agency to perform office functions until such appointment is made in the case of an office other than the office of head of an executive agency. Provides that any action to perform a function of a vacant office by a person filling a vacancy in violation of requirements or by a person who is not filling such vacancy shall have no effect. Directs the heads of affected executive agencies to submit to the Comptroller General and to the Congress:

1. notification of a vacancy and the date such vacancy occurred immediately upon occurrence of the vacancy;
2. the name of the person serving in an acting capacity and the date such service began immediately upon the designation;
3. the name of any person nominated to fill the vacancy and the date such nomination is submitted immediately upon submission; and
4. the date of a rejection, withdrawal, or return of any nomination immediately upon such action.

Requires the Comptroller General to report to specified congressional committees, the President, and the Office of Personnel Management any determination that an officer is serving longer than the prescribed 150-day period, including exceptions to such period. Sets forth additional provisions regarding vacancies existing during presidential inaugural transitions, independent establishments, and exceptions to requirements of this Act for certain board members of independent establishments or Government corporations or commissioners of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Legislative history

The legislation was introduced in the US Senate on June 16, 1998 as Senate Bill 2176 of the 105th Congress. The sponsor of the bill was Senator Fred Thompson of Tennessee, then chairman of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee. Cloture was not invoked to have a final vote on this bill in the Senate. The division was mainly on partisan lines with mostly Republicans in support of the bill. The cloture vote failed on September 28, 1998 by a margin of 53-38. West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd was the only Democrat voting in favor of closing debate.

No action was seen in the House on this bill, however the legislation was added to the Omnibus Consolidated and Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act of 1999, which finished the appropriations process for Congress for Fiscal Year 1999. The omnibus bill passed the House of Representatives on October 20, 1998 by a vote of 333 - 95 (Roll No. 538 in 1998). It then passed the Senate the following day on October 21, 1998 by a vote of 65-29. Record Vote No: 314. President Clinton signed the bill the same day and it became Public Law No: 105-277.

Criticism

In 2001, the Duke Law Journal published an article criticizing the nomination process and the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998. The author, Joshua Stayn, asserts four constitutional problems with the act:

1. The act allows the Senate to confirm or reject people whom the president never officially nominated. The act allows the Senate to treat a president's written notice of intent to nominate as a nomination, despite the fact that the president has yet to and may never nominate the named individual to an advice and consent position. Such treatment of a president's written notice of intent to nominate violates both the “formalist” and “functionalist” Supreme Court decisions on federal appointment issues.
2. The act gives the Senate an impermissible role in making recess appointments. This second constitutional flaw is that it illegitimately interferes with the president's exercise of constitutional authority to make recess appointments.
3. The act encroaches on the president's ability to nominate and control subordinate executive officers. It obligates each agency head to report any vacancy, temporary appointment, or official nomination directly and immediately to Congress, without clearance from the President.
4. The act transfers too much of the Senate's power in the appointment process to the president in the year following a presidential transition. The act authorizes a newly elected president to appoint acting officers to every advice and consent position in the executive branch for up to 300 days after either inauguration day or the date on which the vacancy occurred. The act permits newly elected presidents to engage independently in precisely the kind of favoritism the framers sought to prevent, it is unconstitutional.

Additional requirements of the act

One of the additional requirements of the Act was to mandate that federal department and agencies create lines of succession plan in case of disaster or emergency. Though the Act was passed in 1998, many agencies didn't fulfill that requirement until after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The Bush administration signed executive orders designating lines of succession in seven key departments within months after the attack. These succession plans are not associated with the presidential succession plan already in place.