[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 1 (Tuesday, January 25, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: January 25, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
    COMMERCE, DEFENSE, AND JUSTICE DEPARTMENTS AT BOTTOM OF CLINTON 
                         APPOINTMENT PRIORITIES

                                 ______


                      HON. WILLIAM F. CLINGER, JR.

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, January 25, 1994

  Mr. CLINGER. Mr. Speaker, according to a recently updated 
Congressional Research Service [CRS] Report, after nearly 1 full year 
in office, President Clinton has failed to fill 53.3 percent of the top 
positions at the Department of Commerce, 41.3 percent of the top 
positions at the Pentagon, and 36.7 percent of the top positions at the 
Department of Justice. These abundant vacancies, according to CRS, rank 
the Commerce, Defense, and Justice Departments as the three executive 
agencies with the highest level of unfilled positions in the Clinton 
administration. By contrast, the Departments of Housing and Urban 
Development [HUD], Health and Human Services [HHS], and the Department 
of Labor [DOL] ranked at the three agencies with the fewest remaining 
vacancies.
  It doesn't take a Ph.D. in political science to figure out that an 
administration fills the positions it considers the most important 
first. Actions speak louder than words. The Clinton administration's 
actions of the past year clearly demonstrates that all the tough talk 
and political rhetoric about being a new Democrat is, in fact, just 
talk. The facts show that ensuring a healthy business climate, 
maintaining a strong and ready military, and fighting crime with a fair 
and effective justice system rank at the bottom of Mr. Clinton's 
priorities. You simply can't develop and implement policies in these 
vitally important areas without the people in place to do it.
  Talking is one thing that this President and administration are 
particularly skilled in, making decisions and taking action is 
something they're not. The massacre in Mogidishu, the halting 
deployment turned retreat in Haiti, and the on-again, off-again bombing 
threats in Bosnia reflect the indecision and inaction that has become 
the trademark of this administration, particularly in matters 
concerning national security.
  As the ranking Republican member of the House Committee on Government 
Operations, I urge the President and his White House staff to stop the 
talk of campaigning and to start the actions of governing.
  It is particularly important that Mr. Clinton get his people in place 
at the Pentagon. I first expressed this concern nearly 7 months ago in 
early July this past year. At the time, I pointed out that President 
Clinton had filled only 33 percent of the Defense Department's top 
positions, an alarmingly slow pace that was, on average, 50 percent 
slower than the pace of past Presidents over the last 30 years. I 
stressed in July that the Clinton administration did not appreciate the 
potential costs and risks of these delays. Since then, we've witnessed 
the tragedy in Somalia, the ineptness in Haiti, and the empty threats 
in Bosnia. Who can say whether our Nation would have avoided these 
tragic and humiliating episodes if appropriate policymakers were in 
place. We do know, however, that Clinton administration officials in 
the Defense and State Departments refused to appear at a November 
hearing regarding America's role in U.N. peacekeeping because they were 
only then, in their words, ``developing the policy on peacekeeping at 
the highest levels.'' Filing these vacant administration positions now 
at least eliminates one of the many possible reasons for the grievous 
policy errors committed by President Clinton and his administration 
during his first year in office.
  Today, there is truly bipartisan concern and recognition for the 
serious problems caused by President Clinton's slow pace of 
appointments. In December, on a Sunday talk show, the distinguished 
Chairman of the Senate Armed Service Committee, Senator Sam Nunn of 
Georgia correctly identified, in my view, the inability of Mr. Aspin to 
get his own team in place as one of the top reasons for Mr. Aspin's 
troubles as Secretary of Defense. I also agree with former Secretary of 
Defense Dick Cheney, however, that the responsibility ultimately lies 
with President Clinton to pick, nominate, and get the right person for 
the right job in place. As the legacies of Zoe Baird, Kimba Wood, 
Clifford Wharton, Les Aspin, and most recently, Bobby Ray Inman 
illustrate all too clearly, Mr. Clinton and his team of White House 
lawyers and policy wonks need to do a better job at finding the right 
person to do the right job.
  It's been 1 year, Mr. President. The time for explanations has 
passed--that you could have, should have, or would have done things 
differently had you or your staff known otherwise is irrelevant. The 
point is that you didn't. With North Korea looming on the horizon, with 
Bosnia continually smoldering, with instability in Russia and Central 
Europe growing, with uncertainty in the Middle East ever-present, with 
out economy remaining fragile, and with crime threatening the lives and 
safety of our citizens in their own neighborhoods, the time to get your 
people in place at the Commerce, Defense, and Justice Departments to 
address these problems and to avoid the debacles and tragedies of the 
past year--and to get it right once and for all--is now.

                          ____________________