ABC News(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump has more unconfirmed Cabinet nominees at this point in his term than all previous presidents combined, according to an ABC News analysis of data from the Congressional Research Service.
Since 1789 and before the Trump administration, there have been only 10 times a president’s initial Cabinet nominees remained unconfirmed by the U.S. Senate two weeks into their terms, according to the data.
Eleven of Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominees remain unconfirmed through Thursday. Moreover, Trump’s nominees for the Departments of Agriculture, Labor, and Veterans Affairs have yet to have their hearings.
More than 250 Cabinet nominees have been confirmed by Day 14 of a President’s tenure, according to the analysis. It’s worth noting the Cabinet has grown substantially since George Washington formed his inner circle. Washington’s Cabinet included secretaries of State, Treasury and War as well as an attorney general.
Senate Democrats have focused on delaying several of Trump’s nominees over the course of the last weeks. On Tuesday, Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee boycotted the scheduled votes for Trump’s Health and Human Services (HHS) and Treasury picks. Many Democratic Senators have voiced extensive concerns about the nominees during the cabinet hearings.
Until Andrew Jackson, previous presidents had kept on as many or more Cabinet secretaries than they replaced.
Here are the 10 nominees who waited past the two-week mark (and Trump’s 11 who are still waiting):
Reagan (1) Raymond Donovan for Labor – Feb. 3, 1981
Bush (5) Clayton Yuetter for Agriculture – Feb. 8, 1989; John Tower for Defense – defeated; James Watkins for Energy – March 1, 1989; Louis Sullivan for Health and Human Services – March 1, 1989; Ed Derwinski for Veterans Affairs – March 2, 1989
Clinton (1) Zoe Baird for Attorney General – withdrew
Obama (3) Gary Locke for Commerce – March 24, 2009; Tom Daschle for Health and Human Services – withdrew; Hilda Solis for Labor – Feb. 24, 2009
Trump (11) Sonny Perdue for Agriculture; Jeff Sessions for Attorney General; Wilbur Ross for Commerce; Besty DeVos for Education; Rick Perry for Energy; Tom Price for Health and Human Services; Ben Carson for Housing and Urban Development; Ryan Zinke for Interior; Andy Puzder for Labor; Steve Mnuchin for Treasury; David Shulkin for Veterans Affairs
Note: Washington’s picks weren’t nominated for months after he was inaugurated because the positions/departments didn’t exist yet. They were all confirmed within one day of nomination. This analysis also excludes two confirmations from Millard Fillmore’s tenure. Zachary Taylor died and Millard Fillmore took over on July 9, 1850. On July 20 (within the two-week window), Fillmore nominated an entirely new cabinet. All of his picks were confirmed, but two declined to take the positions. Fillmore didn’t re-nominate until Aug. 15. ABC News is excluding them from the count because 1) his initial nominees were confirmed 2) no one was unconfirmed waiting for Senate confirmation during that period and 3) the posts were never vacant.
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