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1 1 (January 2, 2025)

handle is hein.crs/goverwd0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressonal Research Service Informing the legislative debate since 191.4 Updated January 2, 2025 Nominee Financial Disclosure During a Presidential Transition Every four years, the United States conducts a presidential election. In instances where a transition from one presidential Administration to another occurs, one of the President-elect's tasks is to fill more than 1,000 Senate- confirmed civilian positions in the executive branch. The Ethics in Government Act (EIGA; 5 U.S.C. §§13101- 13111) requires nominees to certain positions requiring Senate confirmation (under the Constitution's advice and consent clause (Article II, Section 2)) to complete financial disclosure forms. Federal agencies and the Senate may use the disclosed information to inform the confirmation process and to identify and remediate real or perceived conflicts of interest, as necessary. Public financial disclosure by high-level Government employees was introduced into law to provide a tool for identifying and resolving potential conflicts of interest and to increase public confidence in the Government. It is fundamental to the executive branch ethics program. -Office of Government Ethics, Report on Improvements to the Financial Disclosure Process for Presidential Nominees, April 200 1, p. 2 Nominee Financial scosure Process Upon winning the presidential election, the President-elect begins the process to transition from campaigning to governing. As noted by the Government Services Administration (GSA), injust over ten weeks between the election and inauguration, a president-elect must prepare to take control of an executive branch that comprises over 140 agencies, hundreds of sub-components, and millions of civilian and uniformed personnel. Part of this transition process is the identification of individuals to fill to-be-vacant roles within the government. The EIGA requires that individuals who are nominated to positions requiring Senate confirmation submit financial disclosure forms, which are then reviewed by the nominee's prospective agency, the Office of Government Ethics (OGE), and the Senate committee evaluating their nomination. Individuals may begin to file financial disclosure forms upon the President's announcement of the intent to nominate. Nominee financial disclosure filers generally complete a public financial disclosure form (OGE Form 278e). Unlike procedures for existing federal employees, OGE has outlined a process for nominees that may involve multiple rounds of financial questions. As outlined by OGE, a nominee should expect to engage with their prospective agency and OGE on financial disclosure matters. The process generally includes the following: * nominee completes a draft public financial disclosure form; * OGE and agency review the draft public financial disclosure form, ask follow-up questions, and provide additional instructions to the nominee as necessary; * nominee revises, as needed, the financial disclosure form and negotiates an ethics agreement with agency and OGE, if necessary; * OGE transmits the completed and signed financial disclosure report to the Senate once formal nomination is made by the President; and * upon confirmation, OGE makes the financial disclosure and ethics agreement, if any, available on the OGE website. Figure 1 shows an OGE-created nominee process flowchart for the nominee financial filing and review process. Figure I. OGE Nominee Process Flowchart (2024) Source: OGE, A Road Map to Ethical Readiness for the Presidential Election and Beyond, p. I12. .-- Overall, OGE reviews fmnancial disclosure forms for approximately 1,000 presidentially appointed, Senate- confirmed (PAS) positions. While OGE reviews many nominees at the beginning of a new Administration, the review process can occur anytime a new nomination is made. OGE does not review fmnancial disclosure reports for all PAS positions. Nominees excluded from OGE review ncelude (1) judicial officers; (2) members of the uniformed services; (3) Foreign Service Officers who are not ambassadors; and (4) a select number of PAS nominees who serve no more than 60 days.

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