TRANSITIONING TO A NEW ADMINISTRATION: CAN THE NEXT PRESIDENT BE READY? HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT MANAGEMENT, INFORMATION, AND TECHNOLOGY OF THE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT REFORM HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED SIXTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION DECEMBER 4, 2000 Serial No. 106–279 Printed for the use of the Committee on Government Reform ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.gpo.gov/congress/house http://www.house.gov/reform U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 75–062 PDF WASHINGTON : 2001 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) 512–2250 Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate 11-MAY-2000 10:11 Dec 04, 2001 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 C:\DOCS\75062.TXT HGOVREF1 PsN: HGOVREF1 COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT REFORM DAN BURTON, Indiana, Chairman BENJAMIN A. GILMAN, New York HENRY A. WAXMAN, California CONSTANCE A. MORELLA, Maryland TOM LANTOS, California CHRISTOPHER SHAYS, Connecticut ROBERT E. WISE, JR., West Virginia ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida MAJOR R. OWENS, New York JOHN M. MCHUGH, New York EDOLPHUS TOWNS, New York STEPHEN HORN, California PAUL E. KANJORSKI, Pennsylvania JOHN L. MICA, Florida PATSY T. MINK, Hawaii THOMAS M. DAVIS, Virginia CAROLYN B. MALONEY, New York DAVID M. MCINTOSH, Indiana ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, Washington, MARK E. SOUDER, Indiana DC JOE SCARBOROUGH, Florida CHAKA FATTAH, Pennsylvania STEVEN C. LATOURETTE, Ohio ELIJAH E. CUMMINGS, Maryland MARSHALL ‘‘MARK’’ SANFORD, South DENNIS J. KUCINICH, Ohio Carolina ROD R. BLAGOJEVICH, Illinois BOB BARR, Georgia DANNY K. DAVIS, Illinois DAN MILLER, Florida JOHN F. TIERNEY, Massachusetts ASA HUTCHINSON, Arkansas JIM TURNER, Texas LEE TERRY, Nebraska THOMAS H. ALLEN, Maine JUDY BIGGERT, Illinois HAROLD E. FORD, JR., Tennessee GREG WALDEN, Oregon JANICE D. SCHAKOWSKY, Illinois DOUG OSE, California ——— PAUL RYAN, Wisconsin BERNARD SANDERS, Vermont HELEN CHENOWETH-HAGE, Idaho (Independent) DAVID VITTER, Louisiana KEVIN BINGER, Staff Director DANIEL R. MOLL, Deputy Staff Director JAMES C. WILSON, Chief Counsel ROBERT A. BRIGGS, Chief Clerk PHIL SCHILIRO, Minority Staff Director SUBCOMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT MANAGEMENT, INFORMATION, AND TECHNOLOGY STEPHEN HORN, California, Chairman JUDY BIGGERT, Illinois JIM TURNER, Texas THOMAS M. DAVIS, Virginia PAUL E. KANJORSKI, Pennsylvania GREG WALDEN, Oregon MAJOR R. OWENS, New York DOUG OSE, California PATSY T. MINK, Hawaii PAUL RYAN, Wisconsin CAROLYN B. MALONEY, New York EX OFFICIO DAN BURTON, Indiana HENRY A. WAXMAN, California J. RUSSELL GEORGE, Staff Director and Chief Counsel EARL PIERCE, Professional Staff Member ELIZABETH SEONG, Clerk TREY HENDERSON, Minority Counsel (II) VerDate 11-MAY-2000 10:11 Dec 04, 2001 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 C:\DOCS\75062.TXT HGOVREF1 PsN: HGOVREF1 C O N T E N T S Page Hearing held on December 4, 2000 ........................................................................ 1 Statement of: Barram, David, Administrator, General Services Administration; Sally Katzen, Deputy Director for Management, Office of Management and Budget; Stuart Gerson, esquire, partner, Epstein Becker & Green, PC; Paul Light, director, Center for Public Service, Brookings Institution; Jonathan Turley, Shapiro professor of public interest law, George Washington University School of Law; Todd Zywicki, associate profes- sor of law, George Mason University School of Law; Norman J. Ornstein, resident scholar, American Enterprise Institute for Policy Research; and Dwight Ink, president emeritus, Institute of Public Ad- ministration, former Assistant Director for Executive Management, Of- fice of Management and Budget .................................................................. 68 Watson, Jack H., Jr., chief legal strategist, Monsanto Co., former chief of staff for President Carter, and director of President Carter’s Transi- tion Teams; John H. Sununu, president, JHS Associates, Ltd., former Governor of New Hampshire, and chief of staff for President Bush; Hon. Mark Gearan, president, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, former deputy chief of staff and communications director for President Clinton; Bradley H. Patterson, Jr., senior fellow, National Academy of Public Administration, former advisor to President Eisenhower’s Presidential Transition, and staff member, Nixon and Ford administra- tions; and Harry McPherson, partner, Verner Liipfert Bernhard McPherson & Hand, former counsel to President Johnson ....................... 19 Letters, statements, etc., submitted for the record by: Barram, David, Administrator, General Services Administration, pre- pared statement of ........................................................................................ 71 Biggert, Hon. Judy, a Representative in Congress from the State of Illinois, prepared statement of ..................................................................... 11 Gerson, Stuart, esquire, partner, Epstein Becker & Green, PC, prepared statement of ................................................................................................... 95 Horn, Stephen, a Representative in Congress from the State of California: Memo dated November 23, 2000 .............................................................. 82 Prepared statement of ............................................................................... 3 Katzen, Sally, Deputy Director for Management, Office of Management and Budget, prepared statement of ............................................................. 79 Light, Paul, director, Center for Public Service, Brookings Institution, prepared statement of ................................................................................... 104 Patterson, Bradley H., Jr., senior fellow, National Academy of Public Administration, former advisor to President Eisenhower’s Presidential Transition, and staff member, Nixon and Ford administrations, pre- pared statement of ........................................................................................ 30 Turley, Jonathan, Shapiro professor of public interest law, George Wash- ington University School of Law, prepared statement of .......................... 115 Turner, Hon. Jim, a Representative in Congress from the State of Texas, prepared statement of ................................................................................... 7 Waxman, Hon. Henry A., a Representative in Congress from the State of California, prepared statement of ........................................................... 15 Zywicki, Todd, associate professor of law, George Mason University School of Law, prepared statement of ......................................................... 136 (III) VerDate 11-MAY-2000 10:11 Dec 04, 2001 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 C:\DOCS\75062.TXT HGOVREF1 PsN: HGOVREF1 VerDate 11-MAY-2000 10:11 Dec 04, 2001 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 C:\DOCS\75062.TXT HGOVREF1 PsN: HGOVREF1 TRANSITIONING TO A NEW ADMINISTRATION: CAN THE NEXT PRESIDENT BE READY? MONDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2000 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT MANAGEMENT, INFORMATION, AND TECHNOLOGY, COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT REFORM, Washington, DC. The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10 a.m., in room 2154, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Stephen Horn (chair- man of the subcommittee) presiding. Present: Representatives Horn, Biggert, Davis, Ose, Turner, Kan- jorski, and Waxman (ex officio). Staff present: J. Russell George, staff director and chief counsel; Randy Kaplan, counsel; Bonnie Heald, director of communications; Earl Pierce, professional staff member; Elizabeth Seong and James DeChene, clerks; Rachael Reddick, intern; Phil Barnett, minority chief counsel; Kristin Amerling, minority deputy chief counsel; Trey Henderson, minority counsel; and Jean Gosa, minority clerk. Mr. HORN. A quorum being present, the hearing of the Sub- committee on Government Management, Information, and Tech- nology will come to order. These are extraordinary times in American history. That there is a need for this hearing is equally extraordinary, and disturbing. On October 12 of this year, the President signed into law the Presi- dential Transition Act of 2000, which I happened to have intro- duced in the House. Regardless of which candidate would be the next President, the 106th Congress wanted to give him greater as- sistance in assuming the highest office in the land. No one, how- ever, anticipated the closeness of this race for the Presidency or the unsettling events that have followed. The Presidential Transition Act as amended authorizes funding for the General Services Administration to provide suitable office space, staff compensation and other costs associated with the tran- sition process. The act also calls for the Administrator of the Gen- eral Services Administration to ascertain the, quote, apparent suc- cessful candidates for the office of President and Vice President. The Administrator, of course, does not determine the winners. That responsibility, as set in the Constitution, clearly belongs to the electoral college and, failing that, Congress. Obviously, the Presidential transition period must begin well be- fore Congress meets to tally the electoral college votes in January. The brief transition period from the day after election to the day of Inauguration is the time in which an incoming President makes (1) VerDate 11-MAY-2000 10:11 Dec 04, 2001 Jkt 000000 PO 00000