Going for Goals: Presidential Appointments and Agency Goal Change

Abstract

With dozens of mandates, federal agencies have considerable discretion in how they focus their time and resources. In this article, I explain how presidents influence agency goals, focusing on how appointee teams are essential to prioritizing and resetting agency goals. Using original data on federal agency goals from the Obama administration to the Trump administration, my analysis of strategic and priority goals across 56 agencies reveals that agencies in which the president has a higher percentage of key appointed positions filled experienced higher levels of long-term goal change. This finding highlights the president's immediate need to get their appointee teams in place to alter the course of agency policymaking for their whole first term.When President Trump assumed office, agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had among their most important priorities to "reduce greenhouse gas emissions" and "strengthen environmental protections," even though Trump had said on the campaign trail that he would "get rid of [the EPA] in almost every form" and promised to "end intrusive EPA regulations" (EPA 2016;Trump 2017;Washington Post 2017). Attached to each priority goal was a high-level goal leader, the Deputy Assistant Administrator of the Office of Air and Radiation (OAR) and the Deputy Chief Financial Officer, whose job it was to ensure the achievement of the goal and report to agency leadership and outside stakeholders on the progress toward completion. The EPA mentioned these goals specifically in their FY 2016 and 2017 budget justifications and outlined how funds would be used to reach these goals 140 Presidential Studies Quarterly

The Outsiders: Examining the Effects of Political Appointments on Public-Sector Employee Engagement

“…Several scholars observe that presidents must balance between competency and allegiance when selecting senior agency leaders, as potential appointees are generally stronger in one or the other, but not both (Waterman & Ouyang, 2020;Piper, 2022;Fuenzalida & Riccucci, 2018). Research connects agency politicization through appointments and increased voluntary turnover in the senior career ranks, leading to capacity and capability losses (Bolton et al, 2021;Dahlstrom & Holmgren, 2019;Ennser-Jedenastik, 2014).…”