Kathryn Dunn Tenpas

I did talk to Kathryn Dunn Tenpas, who has studied administrations back to President Reagan. She's with the University of Virginia's Miller Center. And she says, traditionally, the best source of employees is from previous administrations because, frankly, they know the ropes. And she also says that this bunch here is coming back to a completely different situation than their first go-around.

The Trump administration's delay in acknowledging the results of the 2020 election have left President-elect Joe Biden's transition team with even less than the usual 11 weeks to fill thousands of positions and be read in on the procedures and priorities of every government agency and department. Kathryn Dunn Tenpas looks at how the delayed start may affect the incoming Biden administration and their most urgent priorities, such as distribution of a COVID vaccine.

Two panels explore how the people who run Washington, D.C., make it happen—and how they transition from one administration to the next.

As the Trump campaign’s legal challenges sputter to a near halt, presidential observers are eager to turn to the season’s parlor game of choice: speculation over who will get the “big jobs” in the next administration. Typical prospects include high-dollar donors, senior campaign advisers, and those who have a long personal or professional history with the president-elect. But during his acceptance speech in Philadelphia, President-elect Biden acknowledged the groundswell of support from Black voters throughout the election process when he stated, “…especially for those moments when this campaign was at its lowest—the African-American community stood up again for me. They always have my back, and I’ll have yours.” Taken by itself, this statement can either suggest that the incoming administration will heavily focus on the policy issues affecting Black Americans (e.g., pandemic, joblessness, police brutality, etc.), appoint Black leaders to senior-level positions at agencies, or a combination of both.

This week, President-elect Joe Biden introduced his top economic advisers, including former Fed chair Janet Yellen, as his team prepares for a tough confirmation battle ahead in the Republican-majority Senate. We speak to Kathryn Dunn Tenpas about this, as well as what Biden's picks mean for the economy and foreign policy, and how he might navigate a divided Democratic party.

“He has shown disdain for staffing and personnel across the board,” says Kathryn Dunn Tenpas, a governance expert at the Brookings Institution. “This was not an administration that was fully staffed or experienced.”