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Reposted by Chris Piper

The Partnership @handle.invalid · 28/05/2026

Political appointments under the second Trump administration have moved into uncharted territory—expanding into budget, tech, and procurement offices historically run by career employees. @chrispiper.bsky.social breaks down how the administration has abandoned decades of precedent.

ourpublicservice.org

Precedent abandoned: The spread of political appointments into federal functions historically led by career officials

Learn how the Trump administration has expanded political appointments into agencies where they have not existed in at least 15 years.

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Reposted by Chris Piper

The Partnership @handle.invalid · 13/05/2026

Federal health, science and environmental agencies are losing experienced career leaders at record rates—while political appointments surge to a historic high. This substitution threatens public health, food safety and scientific innovation. Read more in @chrispiper.bsky.social's analysis here.

ourpublicservice.org

Expertise replaced: The politicization of environmental, health and science agencies

Explore the impact of politization on environmental, health, science agencies and its implications for society and policy making.

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Reposted by Chris Piper

The Partnership @handle.invalid · 22/04/2026

Our new report, Dismantling Independence, documents the most aggressive effort in the modern era to bring independent federal boards and commissions under direct presidential control.

ourpublicservice.org

Dismantling Independence: Legal, Compositional and Normative Erosion across Federal Boards and Commissions

A nonprofit, nonpartisan organization working towards effective government for the American people.

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Chris Piper @chrispiper.bsky.social · 24/03/2026

4/ New categories like Schedule Policy/Career could push this further — reclassifying the very senior career staff whose expertise and institutional knowledge are hardest to replace. The report proposes reforms to restore the guardrails Congress originally intended.

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Chris Piper @chrispiper.bsky.social · 24/03/2026

3/ On the career side: the Senior Executive Service dropped nearly 30% to a record low. Political appointees now constitute 11.7% of filled SES positions — a threshold never previously breached.

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Chris Piper @chrispiper.bsky.social · 24/03/2026

2/ On the appointments side: non-Senate-confirmed political appointments have reached historic levels — including 1,835 Schedule C appointees, more than at any point in the past 40 years — placed faster than any prior administration.

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Reposted by Chris Piper

Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 28/01/2026

There is a push for making public sector employees at will, i.e. they can be fired for any reason by politicians. Trump shows how such powers will be abused. This report does a great job of debunking claims that at will employement is working at the state level. ourpublicservice.org/publications...

ourpublicservice.org

At-Will Employment: What the Federal Government Can Learn from States

A nonprofit, nonpartisan organization working towards effective government for the American people.

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Chris Piper @chrispiper.bsky.social · 24/11/2025

Instead, the president may increase his reliance on acting officials as he moved into his second year, and officials begin to turnover.

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Chris Piper @chrispiper.bsky.social · 24/11/2025

These trends suggest that President Trump is nearing the end of his first year back in office with a significant loss of steam. With a high level of turnover in the Presidential Personnel Office, it might be difficult for the administration to gain back momentum.

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Chris Piper @chrispiper.bsky.social · 24/11/2025

Second, I examine Trump's pace of nominations, as well as the time it takes his nominees to be confirmed. I find that his pace of nominations since April has been historically slow. Additionally, his nominees have faced historic confirmation delays. www.brookings.edu/articles/mom...

brookings.edu

Momentum lost: Taking stock of Trump’s nominations at the 300-day mark | Brookings

Trump’s early nomination surge has faded, leaving major vacancies, frequent withdrawals, and record-long confirmation delays.

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Chris Piper @chrispiper.bsky.social · 24/11/2025

First, I examine Trump's unprecedented number of withdrawn nominees. I highlight a White House PPO that is prone to errors, has not conducted thorough vetting, and has demonstrated a willingness to drop any nominee that shows insufficient loyalty. www.brookings.edu/articles/nom...

brookings.edu

Nominees on the run: An early outlier in Trump’s second term | Brookings

Chris Piper breaks down the unprecedented surge of withdrawn nominees that has marked President Trump’s second term.

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Chris Piper @chrispiper.bsky.social · 24/11/2025

Excited to share two new posts of mine at @brookings.edu that were posted today. Together, they tell complimentary stories about President Trump's personnel track record nearing the end of his first year back in office. Links below.

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Chris Piper @chrispiper.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

Thanks for flagging! That firing is already accounted for. I found out about it through Senator Grassley’s tweet on Friday.

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Reposted by Chris Piper

Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 21/10/2025

The Inspector General system is basically broken now. Most IGs have been fired, most positions remain vacant. Those who remain or would take the job pose no risk to holding the regime accountable. Congress added more barriers to Trump firing IGs after his first term. He just ignored them.

graph showing 29 of 38 positions are vacant

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Chris Piper @chrispiper.bsky.social · 21/10/2025

New post by me out today at the Partnership for Public Service highlights how Inspectors General have come under fire during the second Trump administration. Trump’s extensive purges and the resulting vacancies weaken accountability and independent oversight of numerous federal agencies.

ourpublicservice.org

President Trump’s firing of inspectors general threatens government accountability and efficiency

A nonprofit, nonpartisan organization working towards effective government for the American people.

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Chris Piper @chrispiper.bsky.social · 10/10/2025

New @brookings.edu post out by @kdunntenpas.bsky.social and I examines the Senate’s rules change to allow en bloc consideration of nominees. While it is unlikely to dramatically speed up the overall process, it could make a noticeable difference in the time the Senate spends voting on the floor.

brookings.edu

Will the new Senate rule make it easier for presidents to confirm their teams? | Brookings

En bloc voting will not significantly speed up the overall process, but can have an impact at the final stage, the floor vote.

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Chris Piper @chrispiper.bsky.social · 11/08/2025

Some of these reforms were pursued by Senate Democrats in the last Congress. However, no major reform of the process has occurred since 2012-2013, when they eliminated the confirmation requirement for 166 positions, and the threshold for cloture on most nominations was lowered.

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Chris Piper @chrispiper.bsky.social · 11/08/2025

Reform may be possible to expedite the confirmation process. Senate Republicans have discussed shortening post-cloture debate time, bundling lower-level nominations for joint consideration, and reducing the number of positions requiring Senate confirmation.

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Chris Piper @chrispiper.bsky.social · 11/08/2025

Senate Republicans have argued that they are facing “historic obstruction.”Minority Leader Schumer has explained that the “historic levels of scrutiny” are due to nominees’ lack of experience, conflicts of interest, and perceived extreme views.

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Chris Piper @chrispiper.bsky.social · 11/08/2025

Trump’s nominees have faced the longest confirmation delays of any administration in the first 200 days. They have waited 74% longer compared with his first term and nearly four times longer than nominees in the Reagan administration.

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Chris Piper @chrispiper.bsky.social · 11/08/2025

Every nominee has required a final recorded vote and nearly all have required the invocation of cloture. These processes require limited floor time and create a bottleneck in the Senate. www.brookings.edu/articles/all...

brookings.edu

All the president’s nominations: Taking stock at the 200-day mark | Brookings

Following an initial flurry of nominations, there has been a substantial drop in the number of Trump nominations in the second 100 days.

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Chris Piper @chrispiper.bsky.social · 11/08/2025

Happy to share my first @brookings.edu FixGov piece was published today. I take stock of the Senate confirmation process at the 200-day mark of the Trump administration. Among the key findings is the unprecedented degree to which Trump’s nominees have faced procedural barriers.

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Chris Piper @chrispiper.bsky.social · 24/04/2025

Urgent reform is needed to reduce the number of Senate confirmed positions, streamline the paperwork and vetting processes, increase transparency in the holds process, and allow for nominations to be bundled and considered at once.

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Chris Piper @chrispiper.bsky.social · 24/04/2025

All of the individuals we talked to were passionate public servants. However, the cost required to get to confirmation discouraged many from future service. One interviewee said, “It discourages qualified people to look at the positions because why would I go through that hell?”

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Chris Piper @chrispiper.bsky.social · 24/04/2025

While nominees used to be able to expect a confirmation process to be completed in around 3 months, there are now much longer waits with a lot more uncertainty. 90% of Reagan’s first term nominees were confirmed in 3 months, while 25% of Biden’s were confirmed in the same time.

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Chris Piper @chrispiper.bsky.social · 24/04/2025

The interviews revealed three key challenges: 1. Uncertainty characterizes nearly every step of the process. 2. Long delays harm agencies and present national security risks. 3. The hurdles of the current process dissuade talented individuals from considering nominations.

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Chris Piper @chrispiper.bsky.social · 24/04/2025

New report out by me and my team. We conducted interviews with former nominees of Senate-confirmed positions to highlight the stark challenges faced by nominees, their families and the agencies they aim to serve. presidentialtransition.org/reports-publ...

presidentialtransition.org

Ready, Set…Wait: Nominee Experiences through the Senate Confirmation Process

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Chris Piper @chrispiper.bsky.social · 16/01/2025

This is in large part to increasing procedural barriers. It is now the norm for nominees to go through the cloture process and the expectation for nominees to need a final recorded vote. This requires increased floor time which is precious in the start of a Congress.

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Chris Piper @chrispiper.bsky.social · 16/01/2025

Despite the importance of Cabinet secretaries, it has taken recent presidents much longer to get their nominees confirmed. Despite having no nominees withdrawn, Biden still waited until March 22 for his final confirmation.

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Chris Piper @chrispiper.bsky.social · 16/01/2025

These delays have caused at least 3 confirmation hearings to be postponed. Despite this, Trump is still about on par with his predecessors on getting hearings scheduled. The last few hearings have been difficult for recent administrations to get scheduled, often due to withdrawals.

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Chris Piper @chrispiper.bsky.social · 16/01/2025

By the time Trump named a nominee for each Cabinet department this cycle, his most recent predecessors had named just two or fewer. However, delays in getting MOUs signed with DOJ meant that nominees were announced before completing FBI background checks.

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