Featured May 1, 2025 Evaluating presidential personnel and the Senate confirmation process in the first 100 days Back to Blog Fewer nominees, easier confirmations: President Donald Trump’s personnel landscape at 400 days Date February 25, 2026 Authors Chris Piper Tags Congress At the 400-day mark of his second administration, two paradoxical realities define President Donald Trump’s personnel landscape: Confirmations are moving more efficiently, yet fewer nominations have left key leadership roles vacant. Three trends define Trump’s approach to senior presidential personnel and the Senate confirmation process at the 400-day mark: Slowed pace of nominations: After a record-setting first 100 days, Trump has made historically few nominations since. In the most recent 100 days, he made just 25 nominations, less than one-third of the historical average. Critical vacancies with no nominees: The declining pace of nominations, combined with high withdrawal rates and early departures, has left key roles across the executive branch vacant without a pending nominee. A more efficient Senate confirmation process: A September 2025 rules change allowing the Senate to bundle nominees for a single vote has dramatically reduced Senate floor time for processing nominations. This change has helped Trump achieve the highest confirmation rate of any president since George W. Bush. Slowed pace of nominations After a record-setting first 100 days, the pace of nominations has fallen sharply. In the most recent 100 days, Trump made only 25 executive nominations, less than one-third of the historical average since the Reagan administration. Critical vacancies with no nominees The declining pace of nominations, combined with high withdrawal rates and early departures, has left many key positions vacant for extended periods with no nominee in the pipeline. Roles overseeing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the IRS, and food and nutrition programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program are among those currently vacant without a pending nominee. Instead of putting forward nominations, the administration has relied on acting officials—in some cases assigning a single official to perform multiple roles simultaneously. For example, the administration recently announced that National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya would also serve as the acting CDC director. Notably, NIH and CDC have distinct missions and are headquartered in different states. Relying heavily on acting officials carries real risks: undermining agencies’ long-term planning, weakening congressional oversight and disrupting services the public relies on. Acting officials often do not have the authority, mandate or relationships of Senate- confirmed officials, and their uncertain tenure makes it difficult to shape policy and management priorities. A more efficient Senate confirmation process Prior to the September 2025 rules change, the Senate had to spend hours of floor time processing and voting on each nominee. In the period leading up to the rules change, the Senate took 253 recorded votes on Trump’s executive nominees. This was more than twice the number taken on President Joe Biden’s nominees and nearly ten times the number taken on President Barack Obama’s nominees in the same period. In prior administrations, many nominees were confirmed via voice vote or unanimous consent. The rules change has significantly reduced the floor time required to process nominations. In the period after the rules change, the Senate has taken only 36 recorded votes on executive nominees, the lowest number since the Obama administration and about one-third of the number required in the Biden administration. Despite taking fewer recorded votes, the Senate confirmed the highest number of nominees in the post-rules change period of any administration since at least Obama. However, despite increased efficiency on the Senate floor, Trump’s nominees have experienced the longest average confirmation delays on record (157 days)—more than double the average during his first administration (78 days). The rules change streamlined floor votes, but it did not alter the committee phase where substantive vetting occurs and where many nominations get stalled. Nevertheless, the rules change enabled the Republican-led Senate and White House to achieve the highest rate of confirmations for his nominees at the 400-day mark since the George W. Bush administration. This represents a reversal of a recent trend in which each administration since Obama saw a smaller percentage of its nominees confirmed in the first 400 days. Conclusion The story of Trump’s senior presidential personnel and the Senate confirmation process is one of contrasts: a confirmation process that is operating more smoothly than it has in years, offset by an administration sending fewer nominees through it than at any point in modern history. Unless the pace of nominations accelerates significantly in Trump’s second year, vacancies across the executive branch are likely to grow—with real consequences for agencies responsible for carrying out the president’s agenda and serving the public. Chris Piper leads the Center for Presidential Transition’s work on transition related process reforms and reducing the number of Senate confirmed positions.
