Senate-confirmed officials in the second Trump administration are leaving their positions at record rates, a good government nonprofit found in an analysis published Wednesday that warns the trend could hurt congressional input on who runs agencies.
“Though his first term was seen as turbulent regarding personnel, Trump has seen nearly two and a half times as many departures this administration as his first,” wrote Chris Piper of the Partnership for Public Service.
In total, 27 Senate-confirmed officials, 11.4%, have left the administration to date. That number includes three Cabinet secretaries as well as the heads of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Food and Drug Administration and IRS.
To compare, 11 Senate-approved officials departed their jobs by this point in Trump’s first term. The average across the first 18 months of the Bush, Obama and Biden administrations was 4.3 departures.
The Partnership reported that the former officials’ average tenure was eight months. Researchers also noted that these individuals waited an average of nearly five months to be confirmed, and 30% spent more time going through the Senate approval process than they did in their positions.
“These departures also squander the time and resources it takes to find, vet and confirm officials,” Piper wrote.
In addition to the record exits, the Partnership found that Trump is making fewer nominations — the lowest since Reagan. Researchers posited that this might be because the administration appears to have relatively fewer White House staffers focused on personnel.
But the result is an increase in acting officials who are not subject to Senate approval.
“Turnover on this scale does not just thin the government’s leadership ranks — it concentrates power in the president,” Piper wrote. “Each seat left to an acting official is one the president can fill on his own terms without the Senate’s advice and consent: no vetting, no confirmation hearing, no vote.”
Piper further cautioned that, because interim agency leadership is not always announced, it can obfuscate who is running agencies. And he warned that a reliance on temporary officials can impede long-term planning.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
