Political Appointments in the United States - wikipedia Political Appointments in the United States According to the United States Office of Government Ethics, a political appointee is `` any employee who is appointed by the President, the Vice President, or agency head ''. As of 2016, an incoming administration needs to appoint around 4,000 new employees, of which about 1,200 require Senate approval. Contents 1 Types 2 Ethics restrictions 3 History 4 Issues 5 See also 6 References 7 External links Types There are four basic types of political appointments : Presidential Appointments with Senate Confirmation ( PAS ) : These positions require a congressional hearing and a confirmation vote of the full Senate under the Appointments Clause of the United States Constitution. As of 2016 this category includes 1,212 senior leaders, including the Cabinet secretaries and their subordinates at the Deputy Secretary, Under Secretary, and Assistant Secretary levels ; the heads of most independent agencies ; and ambassadors. It also includes United States Attorneys and United States Marshals. Presidential Appointments without Senate Confirmation ( PA ) : These appointments do not require a Senate hearing or vote. As of 2016 there are 353 PA positions, most of which are concentrated in the Executive Office of the President. Some positions in other agencies were added to this category by the Presidential Appointment Efficiency and Streamlining Act of 2011. Non-career Senior Executive Service ( NA ) : The Senior Executive Service ( SES ) forms the level just below the presidential appointees. While the SES largely consists of career officials, up to 10 %, or ( as of 2016 ) 680 positions, can be political appointees. Schedule C Appointments ( SC ) : Schedule C appointees serve in confidential or policy roles immediately subordinate to other appointees. As of 2016, there are 1,403 Schedule C appointees. Unlike the presidential appointments, the non-career SES and Schedule C appointments tend to be made within each agency and then approved by the Office of Presidential Personnel. Ethics restrictions Political appointees, referring broadly to anyone appointed by the President, the Vice President, or agency head, are subject to more ethics restrictions than regular executive - branch employees. There are two categories of appointees, and each category is subject to additional and slightly different ethics restrictions. The spoils system / patronage system is a practice where a political party, after winning an election, gives government jobs to its supporters, friends and relatives as a reward for working toward victory, and as an incentive to keep working for the party as opposed to a merit system, where offices are awarded on the basis of some measure of merit independent of political activity. The merit system is the process of promoting and hiring government employees based on their ability to perform a job, rather than on their political connections. It is the opposite of the spoils system. A common conception of the federal government 's merit system principles is that they are designed to ensure fair and open recruitment and competition and employment practices free of political influence or other non-merit factors. Although that is certainly true, a closer reading of those principles suggests a much broader policy objective that relates directly to managing the ongoing performance of the federal workforce. Political appointees are required to take an ethics pledge not to accept gifts from lobbyists. This is because of Executive Order 13490 Under Section 102 of Executive Order 12674, political appointees who are appointed by the president are not allowed to receive any income from outside employment or activities. Exceptions to the gift rule include : Title 3 U.S.C. § 105 or 3 U.S.C. § 107 ( a ) positions whose basic pay is below GS - 9 on the U.S. civil service pay scale Positions within a White House operating unit that is designated as not normally subject to change as a result of a presidential transition Positions within the uniformed services U.S. Foreign Service positions that do not require Senate confirmation Political appointees sometimes attempt to transfer to a career position in the competitive service, excepted service, or Senior Executive Service. This practice, known as `` burrowing in '', is desired by employees due to increased pay and job security, as career positions do not end when a presidential administration changes. As these appointed positions are selected noncompetitively, while career employees are supposed to be selected on the basis of merit and without political influence, these conversions are subject to extra scrutiny. Since 2010, such conversions require advance approval from OPM, and the Government Accountability Office ( GAO ) periodically audits the conversions. In 2008, members of Congress criticized the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice for improperly allowing political employees to convert to career positions. History In the politics of the United States, the system of political appointments comes from a history of the spoils system ( also known as a patronage system ) which is a practice where a political party, after winning an election, gives government jobs to its supporters, friends and relatives as a reward for working toward victory. The term was derived from the phrase `` to the victor belong the spoils '' by New York Senator William L. Marcy, referring to the victory of the Jackson Democrats in the election of 1828, with the term `` spoils '' meaning goods or benefits taken from the loser in a competition, election or military victory. Though it is commonly assumed that the patronage system in the United States first came into general use during Andrew Jackson 's presidency, it actually has an older history. President Thomas Jefferson, a Democratic - Republican, favored a policy of keeping rival Federalists out of government. The patronage system thrived in the U.S. federal government until 1883. In 1820 Congress limited federal administrators to four - year terms, which led to constant turnover ; by the 1860s and the Civil War, patronage had led to widespread inefficiency and political corruption. Although it used to be confined to cabinet positions, department heads, and foreign ambassadorships, by the 1860s patronage had spread to low - level government positions. This meant that when the incumbent political party lost a presidential election, the federal government underwent wholesale turnover. On July 2, 1881, Charles J. Guiteau, a disaffected and mentally unstable political office seeker, assassinated President James Garfield. This highlighted how much the patronage problem had gotten out of control, and shifted public opinion, convincing the United States that the President of the United States had more important things to do than to engage in patronage. Congress was eventually spurred to pass the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act of 1883, which created a Civil Service Commission and advocated a merit system for selecting government employees. In addition, passage of the Hatch Act of 1939 forbade the intimidation or bribery of voters and restricted political campaign activities by federal employees. It prohibited using any public funds designated for relief or public works for electoral purposes. It forbade officials paid with federal funds from using promises of jobs, promotion, financial assistance, contracts, or any other benefit to coerce campaign contributions or political support. Which restricted most partisan political activities of federal employees. By 1980, 90 % of federal positions had become part of the civil service system. Which lead to state and local governments to employed large patronage systems. Big - city political machines in places such as New York City, Boston, and Chicago thrived in the late nineteenth century. Being as a patronage system not only rewarded political supporters for past support, it also encouraged future support, because persons who have a patronage job would try to retain it by campaigning for the party at the next election. Large - scale patronage systems declined steadily during the twentieth century. During the Progressive Era ( 1900 -- 1920 ), `` good government '' reformers overthrew political machines and installed civil service systems. Chicago, under Mayor Richard J. Daley, remained the last bastion of patronage, existing in its purest form until the late 1970s. In today 's more observant standards, politicians wanted to pull away from the negative intonation of the name casting of Patronage, and Spoil system which led them to rename the process `` Political Appointments ''. Issues The United States has more political appointees in government than any other industrialized democracy in the world. Even though the United States has one of the largest populations of political appointees in the system, the efficiency of political appointees is constantly shifting. Political appointees are engraved in everyday decisions even making the final call on major events. As of 2013, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services was lacking a Senate - confirmed administrator since 2006 when Marilyn Tavenner was acting administrator. At least 60 positions for appointment remain vacant and 45 positions have remained vacant for more than a year. Judicial vacancies have also become a problem as well with numerous open seats for circuit and district judges left to be filled. At the end of President Obama 's first term, thirteen percent of presidential - appointee positions had not been filled. Political appointees also come under heat for their own actions including Ben Bernanke 's involvement with private banks and also Michael Brown 's involvement in Hurricane Katrina. One study published in the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory by Nick Gallo and David Lewis evaluated more than 350 managers with a program assessment rating tool ( `` PART '' ) to determine efficacy and found that programs run by political appointees tended to be less effective. Furthermore, those with previous government experience or appointees who had not worked for a political campaign tended be more effective than appointees with experience in the business or non-profit sectors. Gallo and Lewis stated that they thought careerist and appointees should work in a balanced atmosphere to be more productive and share skills. Professional rapport between careerists and appointees is considered in a study of presidential environmental appointees by Matthew Auer. Auer found that oft - mentioned problems in the appointment system, such as short time - in - office and lack of government experience were less pronounced among top federal environmental appointees, across both Republican and Democratic administrations. See also Political appointments of Donald Trump List of positions filled by presidential appointment with Senate confirmation List of United States political appointments across party lines Merit system Spoils System Meritocracy Bureaucracy Public Administration References ^ Jump up to : Piaker, Zach ( 2016 - 03 - 16 ). `` Help Wanted : 4,000 Presidential Appointees ''. Partnership for Public Service Center for Presidential Transition. Retrieved 2016 - 11 - 16. ^ Jump up to : The Editorial Board ( 2016 - 11 - 14 ). `` Donald Trump Is Now Hiring ''. The New York Times. ISSN 0362 - 4331. Retrieved 2016 - 11 - 16. ^ Jump up to : Tuutti, Camille ( 2012 - 11 - 09 ). `` How to become a presidential appointee ''. FCW. Retrieved 2016 - 11 - 16. ^ Jump up to : `` Political Appointees ''. U.S. Office of Government Ethics. Archived from the original on 2013 - 12 - 17. Retrieved 2013 - 11 - 11. Jump up ^ `` 3 U.S. Code § 105 -- Assistance and services for the President ''. Legal Information Institute. Cornell Law School. Retrieved 25 July 2014. Jump up ^ `` 3 U.S. Code § 107 -- Domestic Policy Staff and Office of Administration ; personnel ''. Legal Information Institute. Cornell Law School. Retrieved 25 July 2014. Jump up ^ Schwemle, Barbara L. ( 2012 - 11 - 02 ). `` Conversion of Employees from Appointed ( Noncareer ) Positions to Career Positions in the Executive Branch '' ( PDF ). Congressional Research Service. pp. 1, 5, 8. Retrieved 2016 - 11 - 16. Jump up ^ `` Patronage ''. Rice University. Retrieved 2013 - 11 - 11. Jump up ^ Peskin, Allan ( 1976 ). Garfield : A Biography. Kent, OH : Kent State University Press. p. 591. ISBN 978 - 0873382106. Jump up ^ `` Anti - Corruption Report '' ( PDF ). Retrieved 2013 - 11 - 11. Jump up ^ Meyer, Theodoric. `` Under Obama, More Appointments Go Unfilled ''. ProPublica. Retrieved 18 November 2013. Jump up ^ Bendery, Jennifer ( 2012 - 12 - 02 ). `` Judicial Vacancies Skyrocket During President Obama 's First Term ''. Huffington Post. Retrieved 15 November 2013. Jump up ^ Committee on Oversight and Government Reform ( 2012 ). Plum Book ( PDF ). Washington, D.C. : U.S. Government Printing Office. Jump up ^ Vedantam, S. ( 2008 - 11 - 24 ). `` Who are the Better Managers -- Political Appointees or Career Bureaucrats ? ''. Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2013 - 06 - 27. Retrieved 2013 - 11 - 11. Jump up ^ Gallo, Nick ; David Lewis ( 16 May 2011 ). `` The Consequences of Presidential Patronage for Federal Agency Performance ''. Public Administration Research Theory. 22 ( 2 ) : 219. doi : 10.1093 / jopart / mur010. Retrieved 2013 - 11 - 11. Jump up ^ Auer, Matthew ( 7 January 2008 ). `` Presidential Environmental Appointees in Comparative Perspective ''. Public Administration Review. 68 ( 1 ) : 68 -- 80. doi : 10.1111 / j. 1540 - 6210.2007. 00838. x. Retrieved 2013 - 11 - 21. External links `` Civil Service Reform ''. Encyclopedia Americana. 1920. Civil service Concepts Public sector Government agency Bureaucracy Bureaucrat Technocracy Diplomat Public administration Public policy Public service By country Australia Bangladesh Brazil Canada China European Union France Germany Hong Kong India Ireland Italy Japan Malaysia New Zealand Nigeria Northern Ireland Pakistan Russia Singapore Sri Lanka United Kingdom United States Categories National civil service commissions Government occupations Civil service by country See also : Civil service reform in developing countries Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Political_appointments_in_the_United_States&oldid=832698619 '' Categories : Political terminology Political concepts Political philosophy Civil service in the United States Hidden categories : Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the Encyclopedia Americana with a Wikisource reference Talk Contents About Wikipedia Add links This page was last edited on 27 March 2018, at 14 : 21. 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Question: number of political appointments available to the president
Answer: around 4,000