Join Our Mailing List
Subscribe for regular updates on how the executive branch is or is not serving the public interest and what can be done about it
About the Revolving Door Project
The Revolving Door Project (RDP), a project of the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), scrutinizes executive branch appointees to ensure they use their office to serve the broad public interest, rather than to entrench corporate power or seek personal advancement.
Projects
The Agency Spotlight
The Agency Spotlight tracks appointments to leadership positions at thirty-nine independent federal agencies through the confirmation process and beyond. Additionally, for three agencies — the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) — the Spotlight monitors and exhibits key votes.
Read MorePresidential Power Map
The Presidential Power Map classifies bundlers and major donors by their professional and sectoral affiliations to offer the most possible clues about the composition of a presidential candidate’s hypothetical administration.
Learn moreOctober 28, 2020 | New Republic
Beltway Lobbyists Are Clutching Their Pearls Over Biden's Ethics Reforms
Thousands of people, from all walks of life, are attracted to doing policy work in Washington. The ones who aren’t multimillionaires don’t get offered the Treasury undersecretary position as an entry-level job.
October 23, 2020
Breaking With the Trade Consensus
Over the past decades, U.S. trade policies have primarily served the interests of corporate America. The result? The American worker experienced few if any of the promised benefits of globalization. President Trump seized upon this in his bid for the Presidency in 2016, but his declaration of China as an enemy and ill-advised trade war have only widened the trade deficit he vowed to close. The data show that the trade deficit reached $67 billion in August, its highest level since August 2006. More so, job growth in the manufacturing sector has been on decline since before the pandemic. Indeed, the current deficit in manufactured goods, $84 billion, is the largest on record with data starting in 1992.
October 23, 2020 | Public Seminar
Donald Trump Politicized the Federal Bureaucracy: The Next President Needs to Reverse That
In an effort to mitigate the political damage from failing to contain the virus and manage its corollary crises, the White House recently mandated that the Department of Agriculture include a signed letter from Donald Trump inside food boxes, claiming credit for the federal program providing food to families in need. The move effectively politicized the taxpayer funded program as a tool of the president’s own self-promotion just a month before the election. Even worse, the department’s inclusion of the letter has jeopardized the program’s operation, as distribution sites fear they will be improperly engaging in political activity.
October 23, 2020 | Washington Monthly
Uncle Sam’s HR Department Needs Help
Joe Biden promises a return to an honest, competent federal government. For that to happen, the government must be adequately staffed with experienced civil servants empowered to push forward his policy agenda, should he win. Without an experienced team, even the best appointees will struggle.
October 28, 2020
Tory Newmyer - Washington Post
The Finance 202: Biden's Transition Team Juggles Competing Demands As Liberals Push Warren For Treasury
October 28, 2020
Brian Schwartz - CNBC
Wall Street Spent Over $74 Million To Back Joe Biden's Run For President, Topping Trump's Haul
October 27, 2020
Ben White - Politico
Morning Money 10/27/20
October 27, 2020
Paul Steinhauser - Fox News
Progressives Push For Warren, Sanders In Potential Biden Cabinet
October 26, 2020
Nandita Bose - Reuters
Microsoft Quietly Prepares To Avoid Spotlight Under Biden
October 26, 2020
Ben White - Politico
Morning Money 10/26/20
RDP on Twitter
As Chief of Staff to Trump's DHS secretary, Miles Taylor helped implement the family separation policy and put kids in cages. Today, he's a top staffer at @google, even as they claim to stand with immigrants against hate. https://t.co/vb18TYNrvz
RT @schwartzbCNBC: The sheer amount from Wall Street to Biden's candidacy is already getting some reaction from progressives, who are geari…
Our @jeffhauser spoke with Brian for this piece on the big decision facing Biden's Team: Look backwards with gratitude to Big Wall Street $, or forward to the energy of the party's grassroots. https://t.co/ybpPFK4JRf
RT @JamaalBowmanNY: Good. https://t.co/cKPWqOTCdH
Our @jeffhauser and @DavidSegalRI respond in the @newrepublic today to D.C.-types who worry that strict ethics rules could lock competent people outside of a Biden admin: "Biden can go find other, just as competent people. There. Done. Was that so hard?" https://t.co/HgB89pJXmz
A focus on restoring smoothly functioning government could help elide ideological differences between Biden and the party’s left wing, @jeffhauser says. “We need a functioning government. Believing that doesn’t require you to be on the far left.” https://t.co/SEIWADMDRh
Our @EleanorEagan spoke with @Alivedemocracy about "What a Defiant Democratic Party Looks Like" https://t.co/HFZFJCbJHn
“Progressives are much better educated about how power works in Washington in November 2020 than they were in November 2008,” @jeffhauser said. “As a result ... the transition process will be monitored extremely closely. That did not occur in 2008.” https://t.co/1RQALzIQSw
Also check out this blog, cited in the article, on the disastrous GOP names Biden is reportedly considering for his Cabinet 3/3 https://t.co/GyNVRCcs8t