How Trump could put allies in key government posts without Senate approval
CBSN
Washington — As President-elect Donald Trump prepares to begin his second term in the White House in just a few weeks, he has suggested that he will use recess appointments to circumvent the Senate confirmation process and quickly install his picks to key positions across the federal government.
The demand has been met with pushback from some Republicans, but there is another way in which Trump could place those loyal to him in high-ranking positions without Senate approval, albeit temporarily: a 25-year-old federal law that sets the rules for presidents to tap acting officials to fill vacant positions that require Senate confirmation.
Enacted in 1998, the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, or the Vacancies Act, limits which government employees can temporarily fill the roughly 1,300 federal offices that require nomination by the president and approval by the Senate.
