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" Supporting Asian and Minority Businesses" |
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Bush Administration Increases Number of Political Appointees, Minority and Female Appointees Plunge
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 2, 2006
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today Reps. Henry A. Waxman, Danny K. Davis, Major R. Owens, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Elijah E. Cummings, and Chris Van Hollen released a new report on the Bush Administration's hiring of political appointees. The report finds that in the Administration's first five years, the number of political appointees on the federal payroll has soared while the number of minority and female political appointees has declined dramatically.
"President Bush has packed federal agencies with political appointees - many with suspect qualifications," said Rep. Waxman. "The President has added hundreds of political appointees to the federal payroll, raising costs to taxpayers and reducing efficiency."
"People of color are underrepresented in the career Senior Executive Corps and now we find that their numbers are declining among political appointees," said Rep. Davis. "It is unfortunate that the federal workforce is moving backward instead of forward and is not representative of the people for whom they work."
"We learn from this report that behind the Bush administration's continuous references to a couple of high profile appointments is an empty file," said Rep. Norton. "No one expected a Republican administration to have as many African American political appointees as the Clinton administration, but a cascade of blacks by almost 70%, despite the increase in political appointed jobs, amounts to the politics of exclusion."
"When President Bush first became President, he said that he would be the President for all of America," said Rep. Cummings. "But by reducing the number of qualified minorities and women who serve as political appointees, President Bush is distancing himself from creating a government that is 'of the people, by the people, for the people.'"
"The Bush Administration has consistently chosen political cronies over competence," said Rep. Van Hollen. "They have placed political pals and contributors in critical positions of responsibility at the expense of competence and expertise."
The report finds:
· The Bush Administration has expanded the number of political appointees in the federal government. In the President's first five years in office, over 300 new political appointees have been added to the federal payroll. The number of "Schedule C" political appointees, who are hired without public transparency or congressional approval, has increased by over 400, from 1,229 in 200 to 1,640 in 2005, an increase of 33%.
· The Bush Administration has favored white males in its political appointments. Since 2000, the Administration has added 564 white political appointees and reduced the number of minority political appointees by 273, representing a 50% decline in the proportion of minority political appointees serving in the federal government. In 2000, 26% of political appointees were minorities. By 2005, the proportion was just 13%. And as a proportion of all political appointees, female appointees have declined from 45% of political appointees to 36% over the same period.
· The Bush Administration has reversed progress made during the Clinton Administration. The Clinton Administration reduced the overall number of political appointees by 17%, increased the proportion of female political appointees by 15%, and more than doubled the proportion of minority political appointees. All three trends have been reversed in the Bush Administration.
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