I found myself wondering about presidential transitions, and who pays for them. I figured there was probably some sort of cost, and that some or all of that cost was paid for with government money.
I wondered at what point Joe Biden became the official President-Elect of the United States. Much was made today of the fact that TV networks declared Joe Biden President-Elect today, but I figured that probably wasn't the trigger that allowed the money to start flowing. I also wondered if Donald Trump could withhold that money, because that's the sort of thing Donald Trump would do.
I looked it up, and decided to share with you what I found. A few things were interesting.
First, some of the money starts flowing to both major party candidates as soon as they become major party nominees. Candidates are expected to work on certain transition plans before the election, and there is money provided to them for that purpose. It's not a ton of money. It's a few million dollars. I didn't look too deeply to see exactly what they were expected to do with it, or what happens if they didn't do it, or did a lousy job.
I did see that it's a major no-no to use that money for campaign expenditures. However, it is legal to use donated money for transition related expenditures. Some restriction apply, and I didn't read the fine print.
After the election, more money gets released to the President-Elect to fund the transition. It surprisingly little money. I read that it was on the order of 10 million dollars. That doesn't seem like a lot to me, but I wondered exactly when the President-Elect was considered officially the President-Elect, and whether the current President had any say in the matter.
What I found was that the funding is part of the General Services Administration (GSA) budget, and it was under control of the GSA Administrator. That person is currently Emily W. Murphy, and is a political appointee. i.e. Donald Trump appointed her at the beginning of his term, and Joe Biden will appoint a replacement. It's her decision when to let the money start flowing, and she gives it to "the apparent winner". So, it really could be when the networks declare a victor, but it's her judgement.
The President doesn't really have a say in the process, except for that fact that political appointees serve at the pleasure of the President, so if Ms. Murphy declared that Joe Biden was the apparent winner, she would risk the wrath of her boss. On the other hand, what's he going to do? Fire her? She's out of a job in a couple of months anyway.
But she hasn't released the money yet. WAPO had an article today on the subject, that contained this line:
So, it sounds like she might be inclined to stonewall a bit on this. Nothing happens in the constitution until some time in mid December. (The 14th?) That's when electors vote,
So, if she is loyal to her boss, she could hamper the efforts of the Biden team to create a smooth transition of poser. Paying attention to when the funds are released might provide some indication of how much Trump will hamper the peaceful transition of power.
It's not a matter of Earth shattering significance, but it was just enough of a separable issue that I thought it would be worthy of its own thread. I know I was interested in it, and I thought others might be as well.
And, I will add, the information from this post comes from a very brief period of google searching, so I would welcome additions or corrections as appropriate.
I wondered at what point Joe Biden became the official President-Elect of the United States. Much was made today of the fact that TV networks declared Joe Biden President-Elect today, but I figured that probably wasn't the trigger that allowed the money to start flowing. I also wondered if Donald Trump could withhold that money, because that's the sort of thing Donald Trump would do.
I looked it up, and decided to share with you what I found. A few things were interesting.
First, some of the money starts flowing to both major party candidates as soon as they become major party nominees. Candidates are expected to work on certain transition plans before the election, and there is money provided to them for that purpose. It's not a ton of money. It's a few million dollars. I didn't look too deeply to see exactly what they were expected to do with it, or what happens if they didn't do it, or did a lousy job.
I did see that it's a major no-no to use that money for campaign expenditures. However, it is legal to use donated money for transition related expenditures. Some restriction apply, and I didn't read the fine print.
After the election, more money gets released to the President-Elect to fund the transition. It surprisingly little money. I read that it was on the order of 10 million dollars. That doesn't seem like a lot to me, but I wondered exactly when the President-Elect was considered officially the President-Elect, and whether the current President had any say in the matter.
What I found was that the funding is part of the General Services Administration (GSA) budget, and it was under control of the GSA Administrator. That person is currently Emily W. Murphy, and is a political appointee. i.e. Donald Trump appointed her at the beginning of his term, and Joe Biden will appoint a replacement. It's her decision when to let the money start flowing, and she gives it to "the apparent winner". So, it really could be when the networks declare a victor, but it's her judgement.
The President doesn't really have a say in the process, except for that fact that political appointees serve at the pleasure of the President, so if Ms. Murphy declared that Joe Biden was the apparent winner, she would risk the wrath of her boss. On the other hand, what's he going to do? Fire her? She's out of a job in a couple of months anyway.
But she hasn't released the money yet. WAPO had an article today on the subject, that contained this line:
Quote:
|
Pamela Pennington, a GSA spokeswoman, said that Murphy would ascertain “the apparent successful candidate once a winner is clear based on the process laid out in the Constitution.” Until that decision is made, she said, the Biden transition team would continue to receive limited access to government resources. |
So, if she is loyal to her boss, she could hamper the efforts of the Biden team to create a smooth transition of poser. Paying attention to when the funds are released might provide some indication of how much Trump will hamper the peaceful transition of power.
It's not a matter of Earth shattering significance, but it was just enough of a separable issue that I thought it would be worthy of its own thread. I know I was interested in it, and I thought others might be as well.
And, I will add, the information from this post comes from a very brief period of google searching, so I would welcome additions or corrections as appropriate.
via International Skeptics Forum https://ift.tt/2GEg7CK
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