"Interim Heads Increasingly Run Federal Agencies"

Read the full article by PHILIP SHENON in The New York Times, October 15, 2007.

"With only 15 months left in office, President Bush has left whole agencies of the executive branch to be run largely by acting or interim appointees — jobs that would normally be filled by people whose nominations would have been reviewed and confirmed by the Senate. In many cases, there is no obvious sign of movement at the White House to find permanent nominees, suggesting that many important jobs will not be filled by Senate-confirmed officials for the remainder of the Bush administration. That would effectively circumvent the Senate’s right to review and approve the appointments. It also means that the jobs are filled by people who do not have the clout to make decisions that comes with a permanent appointment endorsed by the Senate, scholars say.'

Comment: The Bush administration appointees have not been that great to begin with, and eliminating the Congressional checks and balances is not likely to make the situation better. JAD