Kathryn Dunn Tenpas

Practitioner Senior Fellow

TenpasVitaSEPT2020.pdf

Fast Facts

Director of the Katzmann Initiative and visiting fellow with Governance Studies, the Brookings Institution
Advisory board member, White House Transition Project
Fellow, Center for Presidential Transition at the Partnership for Public Service

Areas Of Expertise

The First Year
Governance
Elections
Leadership
Politics
The Presidency

Kathryn Dunn Tenpas is director of the Katzmann Initiative and a visiting fellow with Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution, advisory board member of the White House Transition Project, and a fellow with the Center for Presidential Transition at the Partnership for Public Service.

Tenpas is a scholar of the American presidency focusing on White House staffing, presidential transitions, and the intersection of politics and policy within the presidency (e.g., presidential reelection campaigns, trends in presidential travel, and polling). She has authored the book Presidents as Candidates: Inside the White House for the Presidential Campaign and published more than 60 articles, book chapters, and papers on these topics.

Tenpas earned her BA degree from Georgetown University and her MA and PhD degrees from the University of Virginia.

Kathryn Dunn Tenpas News Feed

Why is the Biden Administration taking so long to staff up?

The Biden administration is moving at a snail’s pace to staff itself. Slower in fact than the last three administrations. That’s according to analysis done by Katie Tenpas, a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. The Federal Drive with Tom Temin spoke to Tenpas about her findings.

Kathryn Dunn Tenpas Federal News Network

Joe Biden’s nominees are facing a Senate blockade

Joe Biden’s nominees are facing a Senate blockade — led by Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley

Kathryn Dunn Tenpas CNN

Democrats Rush to Confirm Biden Picks as Year-End Deadline Looms

A recent Brookings analysis also said Biden’s nominees are advancing at a “snail’s pace.” But Kathryn Dunn Tenpas said her analysis shows Biden’s commitment to diversity represents a “historic breakthrough.” Tenpas said that at the 300-day mark women represent half of the 140 confirmed appointees, and 39% of the nominees are nonwhite.

Kathryn Dunn Tenpas Bloomberg Government

GOP holds on Biden nominees set back gains for women in top positions

As of Nov. 17, 50 percent of Biden’s nominees the Senate has confirmed have been women. That’s compared to 23 percent in the same time frame under the Trump administration and 29 percent in the Obama administration, according to data compiled by Kathryn Tenpas, a nonresident senior fellow with the Brookings Institution.

Kathryn Dunn Tenpas The Hill

Biden’s confirmations progress at the 300-day mark

The Biden administration’s effort to staff the federal government is proceeding at a snail’s pace compared to previous administrations. Such a leadership vacuum inhibits the administration’s ability to implement their agenda, and while the Senate plays a key role in the process and pace, it is the president who suffers most from this incredibly slow pace.

Kathryn Dunn Tenpas Brookings

Democrats frustrated by vacancies across government

Kathryn Tenpas, an expert in executive confirmations at the Brookings Institution, said that Biden is lagging behind former Presidents Trump, Obama and George W. Bush when it comes to the number of confirmed nominees in the first 300 days of his presidency “by extremely significant points.”