Joe Biden has picked0nominees to fill key roles in his administration so far

We are tracking 800 government positions among about 1,200 that require Senate confirmation.

229

positions have no
Biden nominee.

18

picks are awaiting
formal nomination.

206

nominees are being
considered by the Senate.

127

have been confirmed
by the Senate.

Additionally, we have identified 220 appointees so far who are serving in termed positions or who were held over from previous administrations.

Presidents are required to fill roughly 4,000 politically appointed positions in the executive branch and independent agencies, including more than 1,200 that require Senate confirmation. The Washington Post and the Partnership for Public Service are tracking nominees for roughly 800 of those 1,200 positions, including Cabinet secretaries, chief financial officers, general counsels, ambassadors and other critical leadership positions.

In March, President Biden briefly moved ahead of Donald Trump and Barack Obama, who both waited more than a month longer to completely fill their Cabinet secretary slots. Biden is the first president in decades to secure those picks without a failed nominee, despite an evenly divided Senate.

But he is hardly the first incoming president to struggle with filling key positions. Any new administration faces hundreds of openings at the same time it’s grappling with other urgent challenges.

Biden’s pace of confirmations is faster than Donald Trump’s, slower than Barack Obama’s and George W. Bush’s — though unlike any of those three, Biden has decades of Washington contacts to draw on.

[The officials Joe Biden picked to fill his Cabinet]

The White House withdrew the nomination of Neera Tanden as director of the Office of Management and Budget in early March, the first Cabinet-level defeat for the administration. Tanden faced bipartisan opposition from senators because of past comments she made on Twitter.

To fill the positions tracked here, Biden must formally nominate candidates to be confirmed by the Senate as part of its “advice and consent” responsibilities under the Constitution. From announcement to confirmation, a nominee must pass through several steps, including a formal nomination, a referral to at least one Senate committee, a committee hearing and an up-or-down vote on the Senate floor.

[We also tracked political appointees during Donald Trump's presidency]

The tracker will be updated daily as more positions are considered and filled. For data questions, please contact tracker@ourpublicservice.org.