Federal Vacancies Reform Act

PEER works to ensure that the President follows United States federal statutes for filling vacancies in an executive agency. When they fail, PEER challenges their actions. For example, during the Trump Administration there were repeated violations of the Federal Vacancies Reform Act for delegating authority to lower-level political appointees to “exercise the authority of” the Directors of its major bureaus, such as the National Park Service and BLM, without obtaining the Senate’s confirmation for them required under law. These appointees managed almost 350 million acres of our national parks and rangelands, covering almost one-seventh of the nation’s land area. They managed tens of thousands of Interior staff and oversaw key regulatory functions. PEER and other groups challenged these detours around the “advice and consent” of the Senate required under Article 2 of the Constitution, with good Court decisions being the result. Many fewer such procedural abuses have occurred during the Biden Administration. PEER remains alert to enforcing this fundamental “separation of powers” to avoid concentrating too much power in the President’s hands.