Independent Agencies

Democratic sluggishness in the Senate this fall left dozens of crucial nominees to the independent agencies floundering, and led to at least twenty outstanding nominations (or renominations) ultimately being returned, unconfirmed, to former President Biden this January. 

When the next banking crisis happens, remember that Trump and his loyalists weakened already short-handed regulatory agencies.

We urged a more aggressive and justifiably confrontational approach in our recommended questions for Doug Burgum, Chris Wright, Russell Vought, Pam Bondi, and Scott Bessent, which you can read here and here. Today we’ll get into questions for Lee Zeldin, nominee for the Environmental Protection Agency, and Scott Turner, nominee for the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

As the Biden Administration Enters Its Twilight, Let’s Face Facts

The FEMA director has been elevated to a cabinet-level post once before: under President Clinton in 1996. Even that relatively small step could make a huge difference. 

Since our last update on May 23, 2024, we have seen an encouraging amount of new nominees emerging from the White House. Many of these nominations, thankfully, address long standing expirations, vacancies, and partisan gridlocks that have long defined the 40 independent agencies that we track. That said, few confirmations emerged from the Senate this summer, and we continue to advocate for simple, common sense, Senate rule changes to hasten the confirmation process and to aid in the staffing and fuel basic functionality of the federal government.

The fastest way to remove FDIC Chair Martin Gruenberg is to confirm Christy Goldsmith-Romero to lead the agency. Republicans say they want to get rid of Gruenberg, so why aren’t they calling for the immediate confirmation of Goldsmith-Romero?

On Tuesday, Judge Alan D. Albright of the Western District of Texas sided with Elon Musk’s SpaceX and ruled that the structure of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is unconstitutional. Specifically, the Judge ruled against the removal protections enjoyed by administrative law judges and the board’s members. The preliminary injunction will prevent the NLRB from pursuing an unfair labor practice charge against SpaceX, but as Matt Bruenig explains, “The real question is going to be what the Supreme Court does once this case makes it to their docket.”