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Setting new standards for presidential transitions

Date
September 14, 2021 | Updated on September 30, 2021
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The first presidential transition planning conference convenes senior presidential campaign representatives, members of the outgoing Bush administration, and other agency and nonprofit leaders. The meeting lays the groundwork for “Ready to Govern,” a report that recommends several preelection transition reforms aimed at ensuring smooth transfers of power. Similar meetings in 2012, 2016 and 2020—and the enactment of several of these transition reforms—set a new norm for presidential candidates and their teams to initiate transition planning earlier in the election cycle.

“It is time to better enable new presidents to get their full team in place as quickly as possible. It will not be easy, but we must strive to change the status quo. This will require … creating a new set of goals and expectations that set a higher standard for all involved—the presidential candidates, the outgoing administration, a president-elect and then [the] new administration, and the Senate.” —“Ready to Govern: Improving the Presidential Transition,” January 2010