Dec 05, 2000 -

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Upcoming Event

Moving Beyond Deadlock: A Proposal to Speed Up the Presidential Appointments Process

  • Tuesday, December 5, 2000 -

    12:00 am EST

The Brookings Institution
Falk Auditorium

1775 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC

Former Senator Nancy Kassebaum Baker and former OMB director Franklin Raines, co-chairs of the Presidential Appointee Initiative, will distribute copies of a letter they are sending to President Clinton, the president-elect, and the Senate Republican and Democratic leaders proposing “some unprecedented but highly important steps to facilitate and accelerate” the process of appointing and confirming the top officials of the new administration.

“We sincerely believe that such an agreement will help us all to move beyond a divisive election to get on with the important business of governing our country,” the letter declares.

Ms. Kassebaum Baker and Mr. Raines, now chairman and CEO of Fannie Mae, will be joined by Paul Light, vice president and director of the Governmental Studies program at the Brookings Institution and senior adviser to the Presidential Appointee Initiative, on a panel to discuss the proposal and other transition issues.

The process of appointing, clearing, and confirming a new president’s top-level White House and Cabinet officials has taken progressively longer with each successive administration in the last few decades. The unresolved outcome of the vote in Florida is likely to stretch out this year’s appointments process.

This and other transition issues will be discussed by the panel. The audience will be encouraged to ask questions and join the discussion.

The Presidential Appointee Initiative is a project of the Brookings Institution funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts.

Nancy Kassebaum Baker
Co-Chair, The Presidential Appointee Initiative

Franklin Raines
Co-Chair, The Presidential Appointee Initiative
Chairman and CEO, Fannie Mae

Michael H. Armacost
President, The Brookings Institution

Paul C. Light
Vice President and Director, Governmental Studies, The Brookings Institution
Senior Adviser, Presidential Appointee Initiative, The Brookings Institution

RSVP: Please call the Brookings Office of Communications, 202/797-6105, using the on-line form, or by email at [email protected].