Preparing for the Presidential Transition Hearing
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PASSING THE BATON: PREPARING FOR THE PRESIDENTIAL TRANSITION HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT MANAGEMENT, ORGANIZATION, AND PROCUREMENT OF THE COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED TENTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION SEPTEMBER 24, 2008 Serial No. 110–154 Printed for the use of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/congress/index.html http://www.oversight.house.gov U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 49–494 PDF WASHINGTON : 2009 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate 11-MAY-2000 11:23 Jun 01, 2009 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 U:\DOCS\49494.TXT KATIE PsN: KATIE COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM HENRY A. WAXMAN, California, Chairman EDOLPHUS TOWNS, New York TOM DAVIS, Virginia PAUL E. KANJORSKI, Pennsylvania DAN BURTON, Indiana CAROLYN B. MALONEY, New York CHRISTOPHER SHAYS, Connecticut ELIJAH E. CUMMINGS, Maryland JOHN M. MCHUGH, New York DENNIS J. KUCINICH, Ohio JOHN L. MICA, Florida DANNY K. DAVIS, Illinois MARK E. SOUDER, Indiana JOHN F. TIERNEY, Massachusetts TODD RUSSELL PLATTS, Pennsylvania WM. LACY CLAY, Missouri CHRIS CANNON, Utah DIANE E. WATSON, California JOHN J. DUNCAN, JR., Tennessee STEPHEN F. LYNCH, Massachusetts MICHAEL R. TURNER, Ohio BRIAN HIGGINS, New York DARRELL E. ISSA, California JOHN A. YARMUTH, Kentucky KENNY MARCHANT, Texas BRUCE L. BRALEY, Iowa LYNN A. WESTMORELAND, Georgia ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, District of PATRICK T. MCHENRY, North Carolina Columbia VIRGINIA FOXX, North Carolina BETTY MCCOLLUM, Minnesota BRIAN P. BILBRAY, California JIM COOPER, Tennessee BILL SALI, Idaho CHRIS VAN HOLLEN, Maryland JIM JORDAN, Ohio PAUL W. HODES, New Hampshire CHRISTOPHER S. MURPHY, Connecticut JOHN P. SARBANES, Maryland PETER WELCH, Vermont JACKIE SPEIER, California PHIL SCHILIRO, Chief of Staff PHIL BARNETT, Staff Director EARLEY GREEN, Chief Clerk DAVID MARIN, Minority Staff Director SUBCOMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT MANAGEMENT, ORGANIZATION, AND PROCUREMENT EDOLPHUS TOWNS, New York, Chairman PAUL E. KANJORSKI, Pennsylvania BRIAN P. BILBRAY, California CHRISTOPHER S. MURPHY, Connecticut TODD RUSSELL PLATTS, Pennsylvania, PETER WELCH, Vermont JOHN J. DUNCAN, JR., Tennessee CAROLYN B. MALONEY, New York MICHAEL MCCARTHY, Staff Director (II) VerDate 11-MAY-2000 11:23 Jun 01, 2009 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 U:\DOCS\49494.TXT KATIE PsN: KATIE C O N T E N T S Page Hearing held on September 24, 2008 ..................................................................... 1 Statement of: Johnson, Clay, Deputy Director for Management, Office of Management and Budget; Gene L. Dodaro, Acting Comptroller General of the United States, Government Accountability Office; and Gail Lovelace, Chief Human Capital Officer, General Services Administration ........................ 6 Dodaro, Gene L. ......................................................................................... 20 Johnson, Clay ............................................................................................ 6 Lovelace, Gail ............................................................................................ 48 Kumar, Martha, professor, Department of Political Science, Towson Uni- versity; Doris Hausser, panel member for the Department of Homeland Security President Transition Study, the National Academy of Public Administration; Don Kettl, professor, FELS Institute of Government, University of Pennsylvania; and Patricia McGinnis, president and CEO, the Council for Excellence in Government .................................................. 68 Hausser, Doris ........................................................................................... 77 Kettl, Don ................................................................................................... 249 Kumar, Martha .......................................................................................... 68 McGinnis, Patricia ..................................................................................... 214 Letters, statements, etc., submitted for the record by: Dodaro, Gene L., Acting Comptroller General of the United States, Gov- ernment Accountability Office, prepared statement of .............................. 22 Hausser, Doris, panel member for the Department of Homeland Security President Transition Study, the National Academy of Public Adminis- tration: Prepared statement of ............................................................................... 208 Report entitled, ‘‘Addressing the 2009 Presidential Transition at the Department of Homeland Security,’’ .................................................... 78 Johnson, Clay, Deputy Director for Management, Office of Management and Budget, prepared statement of ............................................................. 8 Kettl, Don, professor, FELS Institute of Government, University of Penn- sylvania, prepared statement of .................................................................. 251 Kumar, Martha, professor, Department of Political Science, Towson Uni- versity, prepared statement of ..................................................................... 72 Lovelace, Gail, Chief Human Capital Officer, General Services Adminis- tration, prepared statement of ..................................................................... 50 McGinnis, Patricia, president and CEO, the Council for Excellence in Government, prepared statement of ............................................................ 217 Towns, Hon. Edolphus, a Representative in Congress from the State of New York, prepared statement of ........................................................... 3 (III) VerDate 11-MAY-2000 11:23 Jun 01, 2009 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 U:\DOCS\49494.TXT KATIE PsN: KATIE VerDate 11-MAY-2000 11:23 Jun 01, 2009 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 U:\DOCS\49494.TXT KATIE PsN: KATIE PASSING THE BATON: PREPARING FOR THE PRESIDENTIAL TRANSITION WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2008 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT MANAGEMENT, ORGANIZATION, AND PROCUREMENT, COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM, Washington, DC. The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:16 p.m., in room 2247, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Edolphus Towns (chair- man of the subcommittee) presiding. Present: Representatives Towns, Bilbray, and Platts. Staff present: Mike McCarthy, staff director; Jason Powell, coun- sel; Bill Jusino, professional staff member; Robert Burdsal, detailee; Kwane Drabo, clerk; and Mark Marin, minority profes- sional staff member. Mr. TOWNS. The committee will come to order. Welcome to today’s oversight hearing on the upcoming Presi- dential transition. Today we will examine a huge management challenge that we face between now and January 20: the Presi- dential transition. Last month, we watched our U.S. track athletes compete in the Olympics in Beijing. You may remember that both the men’s and women’s sprint relays didn’t even make the finals, because they dropped the baton passing from one runner to another. It showed us that as talented and as hard-working as those athletes are, without working together, all may be lost. I hope the current ad- ministration and the new administration keep this example in mind and make sure that the hand-off of government is not fum- bled or dropped. I will be candid with you. I want Barack Obama to be the next President. That’s on the side. I know my friend Congressman Bilbray wants John McCain to be the next President. But that is not what today’s hearing is about. It is about making sure that the government isn’t in limbo for any period of time, because the chal- lenges we face will not take a break while things are getting orga- nized. This transition will have unique challenges. Much has changed since the last transition 8 years ago. Congress is working on a plan that would give the Secretary of the Treasury a huge amount of ad- ditional authority, $700 billion—that’s ‘‘b’’ as in boy—to bail out Wall Street and to fix the largest financial failure we have seen since the Great Depression. (1) VerDate 11-MAY-2000 11:23 Jun 01, 2009 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 U:\DOCS\49494.TXT KATIE PsN: KATIE 2 I’m skeptical about this plan, but it is clear that the next Presi- dent and his Treasury Secretary are going to have to clean up this mess. The candidates have to start working on that right away— right now, by following the situation closely and by finding the most qualified person possible to be the Treasury secretary on Jan- uary 20. It might even be a good idea for each candidate’s economic advisers to sit in on discussions with Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke and Secretary Paulson to make sure that they will be completely ready to take the lead next year. That isn’t presump- tuous. It’s good leadership. Another concern I have is a problem that has come up before, where political appointees seek career positions to ‘‘burrow into’’ the executive branch. These career positions are supposed to be open to the public. They are based on merit. If a political appointee is the person most qualified for the position, then so be it. But we will not allow members of the current administration to use their position to get jobs they do not deserve and stick around into