This report provides an overview of the process for filling positions to which the President makes appointments with the advice and consent of the Senate (PAS positions). It also identifies, for the 109 th Congress, all nominations to executive-level full-time positions in the 15 departments. Profiles of the departments provide basic information regarding their full-time PAS positions and related appointment activity during the 109 th Congress. The Appointment Process for Advice and Consent Positions The President and the Senate share the power to appoint the principal officers of the United States. The Constitution (Article II, Section 2, clause 2) empowers the President to nominate and, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to appoint the principal officers of the United States. Three distinct stages mark the appointment process: selection, clearance, and nomination by the President; consideration by the Senate; and appointment by the President. Selection, Clearance, and Nomination In the first stage, the White House selects and clears a prospective appointee before sending a formal nomination to the Senate. There are a number of steps in this stage of the process for most Senate-confirmed positions. First, with the assistance of, and preliminary vetting by, the White House Office of Presidential Personnel, the President selects a candidate for the position. Interested parties, including Members of Congress, have sometimes had input during this process. It has been argued that Senators are constitutionally entitled, by virtue of the advice and consent clause noted above, to provide advice to the President regarding his selection; the extent of this entitlement is a matter of some debate. As a practical matter, in instances where Senators perceive insufficient pre-nomination consultation has occurred, they have sometimes used holds to block Senate confirmation for those nominations. During the clearance process, the candidate prepares and submits several forms: the "Public Financial Disclosure Report" (Standard Form (SF) 278), the "Questionnaire for National Security Positions" (SF 86), and the White House "Personal Data Statement Questionnaire." The Office of the Counsel to the President oversees the clearance process, which often includes the collection and review of background information by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Office of Government Ethics (OGE), and an ethics official for the agency to which the candidate is to be appointed. If conflicts are found during the background check, OGE and the agency ethics officer may work with the candidate to mitigate the conflicts. Once the Office of the Counsel to the President has cleared the candidate, the nomination is ready to be submitted to the Senate. The selection and clearance stage has often been the longest part of the appointment process. There have been, at times, lengthy delays, particularly when many candidates have been processed simultaneously, such as at the beginning of an Administration, or where conflicts needed to be resolved. Candidates for higher-level positions have often been accorded priority in this process. In an effort to reduce the elapsed time between a new President's inauguration and the appointment of his or her national security team, amendments to the Presidential Transitions Act of 1963, enacted at the end of 2004, encourage a President-elect to submit, for security clearance, potential nominees to high-level national security positions as soon as possible after the election. A separate provision of law, enacted as part of the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998, lengthens, during presidential transitions, the potential duration of a temporary appointment by at least 90 days. Although this provision might give some additional flexibility to an incoming President, it might also lengthen the appointment process for some positions by, in effect, extending the deadline by which a permanent appointment must be completed. For a position located within a state (e.g., U.S. attorney, U.S. marshal, and U.S. district judge), the President, by custom, normally has nominated an individual recommended by the Senator or Senators (if they are from the same party as the President) from that state. In instances where neither Senator is from the President's party, he usually has deferred to the recommendations of party leaders from the state. Occasionally, the President has solicited recommendations from Senators of the opposition party because of their positions in the Senate. A nominee has no legal authority to assume the duties and responsibilities of the position; the authority comes with Senate confirmation and presidential appointment. A nominee who is hired by the agency as a consultant while awaiting confirmation may serve only in an advisory capacity. If circumstances permit and conditions are met, the President could give the nominee a recess appointment to the position (see below). Recess appointments have sometimes had political consequences, however, particularly where Senators perceived that such an appointment was an effort to circumvent their constitutional role. Some Senate-confirmed positions, such as many of those in the executive departments, may also be temporarily filled under the Vacancies Act. Senate Consideration In the second stage, the Senate alone determines whether or not to confirm a nomination. The way the Senate has acted on a nomination has depended largely on the importance of the position involved, existing political circumstances, and policy implications. Generally, the Senate has shown particular interest in the nominee's views and how they are likely to affect public policy. Two other factors have sometimes affected the scrutiny with which a nominee's personal and professional qualities have been examined: whether or not the President's party controlled the Senate and the degree to which the President became involved in supporting the nomination. The Senate confirmation process has been centered at the committee level. Committee nomination activity has generally included investigation, hearing, and reporting stages. As part of investigatory work, committees have drawn on information provided by the White House, as well as information they themselves have collected. Some committees have held hearings on nearly all nominations; others have held hearings for only some. Hearings provide a public forum to discuss a nomination and any issues related to the program or agency for which the nominee would be responsible. Even where confirmation has been thought to be a virtual certainty, hearings have provided Senators and the nominee with opportunities to go on the record with particular views or commitments. Senators have used hearings to explore nominees' qualifications, articulate policy perspectives, or raise related oversight issues. A committee may discontinue acting on a nomination at any point—upon referral, after investigation, or after a hearing. If the committee votes to report the nomination back to the full Senate, it has three options: it may report the nomination to the Senate favorably, unfavorably, or without recommendation. If the committee elects not to report a nomination, the Senate may, under certain circumstances, discharge the committee from further consideration of the nomination in order to bring it to the floor. The Senate historically has confirmed most, but not all, executive nominations. Rarely, however, has a rejection occurred on the Senate floor. Nearly all rejections have occurred in committee, either by committee vote or by committee inaction. Rejections in committee have occurred for a variety of reasons, including opposition to the nomination, inadequate amount of time for consideration of the nomination, or factors that may have nothing to do with the merits of the nomination. If a nomination is not acted upon by the Senate by the end of a Congress, it is returned to the President. Pending nominations also may be returned automatically to the President at the beginning of a recess of 30 days or longer, but the Senate rule providing for this return is often waived. Appointment In the final stage, the confirmed nominee is given a commission signed by the President, with the seal of the United States affixed thereto, and is sworn into office. The President may sign the commission at any time after confirmation or not at all. Once the appointee is given the commission and sworn in, he or she has full authority to carry out the responsibilities of the office. Recess Appointments The Constitution also empowers the President to make limited-term appointments without Senate confirmation when the Senate is in recess. Such recess appointments expire at the end of the next session of the Senate. Appendix C provides a table showing the dates of the Senate recesses for the 109 th Congress and the number of recess appointments to full-time departmental positions during each recess. Presidents have occasionally used the recess appointment power to circumvent the confirmation process. In response, Congress has enacted provisions that restrict the pay of recess appointees under certain circumstances. Because most potential appointees to full-time positions cannot serve without a salary, the President has an incentive to use his recess appointment authority in ways that allow them to be paid. Under the provisions, if the position falls vacant while the Senate is in session and the President fills it by recess appointment, the appointee may not be paid from the Treasury until he or she is confirmed by the Senate. However, the salary prohibition does not apply (1) if the vacancy arose within 30 days before the end of the session; (2) if a nomination for the office (other than the nomination of someone given a recess appointment during the preceding recess) was pending when the Senate recessed; or (3) if a nomination was rejected within 30 days before the end of the session and another individual was given the recess appointment. A recess appointment falling under any one of these three exceptions must be followed by a nomination to the position not later than 40 days after the beginning of the next session of the Senate. For this reason, when a recess appointment is made, the President generally submits a new nomination for the nominee even when an old nomination is pending. These provisions have been interpreted by the Department of Justice to preclude payment of an appointee who is given successive recess appointments to the same position. Although recess appointees whose nominations to a full term are subsequently rejected by the Senate may continue to serve until the end of their recess appointment, a recurring provision of the funding bill for the Department of the Treasury and other agencies may prevent them from being paid after their rejection.