Statement of Senator Fred Thompson, Chairman

Committee on Governmental Affairs

June 8, 2000

Mr. THOMPSON. Mr. President, Senator Lieberman and I are today introducing the Presidential Transition Act of 2000 on behalf of ourselves and Senators Akaka, Durbin, Levin, and Voinovich. The ability of a President-elect to effectively transition from campaigning to governing is obviously of critical importance and this legislation is designed to initiate much needed improvements in the process.

A President-elect must face the management challenge of transitioning from leading a successful campaign operation to leading the nation. There are only 73 days from election day to inauguration day. Transition planning should begin prior to election day. The President-elect should have the ability to move immediately to put a new team in place. That team should receive the critical information it needs to be prepared to take over the management of the federal government on inauguration day. Potential nominees should be able to move through the nomination and confirmation process without unnecessary barriers.

The magnitude of the need for an effective presidential transition and the recognized problems with past ones have led a number of private sector organizations to focus on the problem and solutions to it. Several, including the Presidential Appointee Initiative of the Brookings Institution, Transition to Governing of the American Enterprise Institute and Brookings, and the Heritage Foundation's Mandate for Leadership 2000, have contributed to our consideration of this problem. These groups and others are independently preparing a body of knowledge which will assist the new administration to get an effective, timely start. I ask unanimous consent that an article by Carl Cannon in National Journal and one by David Broder in the Washington Post, which describe the significant work which is underway, be printed at the conclusion of my remarks, followed by the text of our legislation.

The legislation encompasses and expands on H.R. 3137, legislation sponsored by Representative Steve Horn, Chairman of the Committee on Government Reform Subcommittee on Government Management, Information and Technology and passed by the House of Representatives. Representative Horn's bill provides for the payment of expenses during the transition for briefings and other activities designed to transfer key policy and administrative information to prospective presidential staff in order to ensure a smooth transition from one administration to another. The current Administration has recognized the importance of these activities by including additional funds for it in its FY 2001 budget request for the General Services Administration.

Our bill supplements the framework established by H.R. 3137. Our bill includes the authorization of federal funds to be spent to provide for the training and orientation of officials a President intends to nominate to key positions. This important provision allows political appointees to hit the ground running by preparing for the job before they are nominated.

Additionally, our bill requires the preparation of a `transition directory.' This valuable tool will be a compilation of materials that provide information to prospective appointees about the organization of federal departments and agencies, as well as the statutory and administrative authorities, functions, duties, and responsibilities of each federal department and agency. With this tool, prospective appointees can better manage the new, important positions they are preparing to undertake.

Finally, the bill requires the Office of Government Ethics conduct a study and submit a report to Congress on potential improvements to the current financial disclosure process Presidential nominees are currently required to undergo. Certainly, nothing the Office of Government Ethics recommends should in any way lessen the requirement that potential nominees disclose possible conflicts of interest. But, the Office of Government Ethics should recommend ways to improve the process of obtaining, reviewing, and disclosing such information in order to reduce the burden the current process places on potential appointees and the people who review the information.

Mr. President, we believe this legislation will help improve and smooth the process by which elected Presidents and their political appointees transition to power and assume their responsibilities. We hope the incentives provided in this legislation will encourage and enable presidential candidates, presidents-elect and newly sworn presidents to be up and running on the day after the inauguration.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that additional material be printed in the Record.