Joe Biden’s Cabinet Still Missing 43 Days In

Day 43 into the Biden presidency, his cabinet is still half-empty because of the slow start in confirmations.

President Biden has made 23 nominees to cabinet-level positions. Only 13 of those have been confirmed by the Senate, making just a little over half of the positions filled. This is shaping up to be the slowest start to the naming of cabinet positions in modern history.

Among them, “15 core nominees to lead federal agencies, 10 have been confirmed, or about two thirds. According to the Center for Presidential Transition, about a month into their first terms, the previous four presidents had 84% of their core Cabinet picks confirmed,” according to an Associated Press report.

The report continued:

Matt Stier, president and CEO of the Partnership for Public Service, a nonprofit organization that tracks presidential transitions, said federal departments tend to act more conservatively around decision-making and shifting policies without the top brass in place.

“Missing the top person means that it’s pretty difficult to actually address the very big questions and to make big changes,” he said. “And there’s a natural conservatism in place when people don’t know yet what the top person is going to really want.”

On Tuesday, Neera Tanden withdrew her nomination for director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Tanden was facing bipartisan opposition from senators because of past comments she made on her Twitter feed.

“I am writing to you to withdraw my nomination for Director of the Office of Management and Budget,” Tanden wrote in a statement. “Unfortunately, it now seems clear that there is no path forward to gain confirmation, and I do not want continued consideration of my nomination to be a distraction from your other priorities.”