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

We are tracking 799 government positions among about 1,200 that require Senate confirmation.

117

positions have no
Biden nominee.

9

picks are awaiting
formal nomination.

175

nominees are being
considered by the Senate.

308

have been confirmed
by the Senate.

Additionally, we have identified 190 appointees so far who are serving in termed positions or who were held over from previous administrations.

One year into Joe Biden’s presidency, hundreds of key federal government positions remain unfilled as Senate Republicans have delayed confirming his nominees. As of Jan. 19, 4 in 10 Biden nominees were waiting on Senate confirmation.

President Biden put forward more nominees in his first year than President Donald Trump and about as many as President George W. Bush and Barack Obama. But it took on average 103 days for the Senate to confirm a Biden nominee, compared with 100 days for Trump, 80 for Obama and just 48 for Bush.

Many of Biden’s picks to oversee U.S. foreign policy, from ambassadors to assistant secretaries of state and other national security posts, have been stalled by Republican senators hostile to various aspects of the president’s agenda. Senators led by Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) placed holds on many of Biden’s ambassador picks in an effort to force the administration to sanction a Russian-backed pipeline company, while Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) held up two of Biden’s ambassador nominations because he disagrees with their positions on matters of foreign policy.

Biden 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.

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.

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 weekly on Mondays as more positions are considered and filled. For data questions, please contact tracker@ourpublicservice.org.