News Journal:What do we do now?

That’s the famous last line of The Candidate, the classic 1972 Robert Redford movie. A just-elected senator poses the question to his campaign manager. After months of an all-consuming political campaign, the winning candidate hasn’t got a clue about what he is supposed to do next.

It is not a question we want asked by a newly elected President, who has spent years, not months, concentrating on winning a political campaign. All governments, especially in the post 9/11 era, are at their most vulnerable during a transfer of power. I was keenly aware of this when I was part of the team in charge of the Obama-Biden transition in 2008. I realized there was not nearly enough time between an election day in November and an inauguration day in January to adequately prepare for a new presidency.

That’s why, when I became a Senator in 2009, I immediately started working on what finally became law in 2010 as the Pre-Election Presidential Transition Act. It was long overdue. It may now seem quaint, but in a simpler time no candidate wanted to admit he was actively planning on what he would do and how his administration would be organized if he were elected. But I knew that what was once perceived as presumptuous had become a necessity.

When the bill passed, I said, “it will go a long way in removing the stigma that has historically caused candidates to hide or even delay important transition planning until after Election Day. With the security and domestic policy challenges we face today, it must become the norm for any major party nominee to begin making arrangements for a transition long before Election Day. We can’t afford to leave something this important to chance.”

The bill brought the presidential transition out of the shadows. It allowed the General Services Administration to aid each qualified candidate upon their nomination by providing what was needed to plan for their administration. This included office space and furniture, secure communications equipment and services, briefing, training, and to begin the process of security clearances for possible personnel.

Three years ago, Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney used the new law to set an excellent standard for how a presidential pre-election transition should be organized. He assigned the job of leading the effort to someone with extensive knowledge of how the government works, former Utah Governor and Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt. As a result of the new law, Leavitt’s team was able to move ahead quickly as soon as Romney was nominated. Working with GSA they established a large office in Washington and were able to provide the almost 500 people who worked on the project with the space and equipment to do an amazing job. They produced the Romney Readiness Project Report, which can be found on www.scribd.com/doc/144955654/Romney-Readiness-Project#scribd

Anyone who reads the report will see why having advance preparations for taking over the United States government is so complex and so important. That’s why the leaders of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, our own Sen. Tom Carper and the Republican Chair, Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, have been working together to improve the 2010 Act.

The result of their efforts, the Presidential Transitions Improvements Act of 2015, was passed in the Senate last month. The Government Affairs Committee report pointed out that the bill “would ensure that a senior-level, White House-led interagency transition council is in place at least six months before Election Day, and that a standing, working-level interagency group will develop an integrated strategy for transitions…The bill would also ensure that agencies designate a senior career official for each major component or subcomponent to oversee transition activities at least six months before Election Day, and also designate individuals who will serve in an ‘acting’ capacity in senior political positions during a transition by not later than Sept. 15 of a presidential election year. The bill would also expand training available to incoming presidential appointees.”

Sen. Carper summed it up perfectly when he said, “Given the challenges facing our country, both at home and abroad, Congress has a critical responsibility to help ensure an orderly changeover from one administration to the next. This bill will help ensure that when future presidents take the oath of office, their administrations are as prepared as possible to hit the ground running from day one.”

The real work of the transition begins early next summer. That’s why it is essential that the House of Representatives pass the bill by early next year.

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