Tracking Trump's nominations

The turnover of presidential administrations is a huge undertaking -- especially when it comes to staffing. No president can come into office with all of their nominees picked, but government experts say it’s best to have a few hundred in place by the August recess. Here is where President Donald Trump stands compared with the past two presidents.

There are more than 4,000 positions for Trump to fill, more than 1,200 of which require Senate confirmation. The actual number appointed in a president’s first year can be hundreds less because the terms of some positions haven’t expired yet or because the administration is willing to have some vacancies.

Thus far, Trump has lagged behind the pace of his predecessors, partially because he has nominated far fewer candidates. But he has also had far fewer confirmed and the White House has complained about a logjam in the Senate.

Staffing the government is also not just about Cabinet-level officials. Deputy secretaries and second and third-tier appointments at agencies -- especially ones that deal with national security -- are considered just as essential as selecting the names at the top. Deputies are often in charge of managing the day-to-day functioning of an agency and can oversee core components. Experts say it's important to pick a slate of individuals relatively quickly who can learn to work well together. Here’s where the current administration stands on staffing individual agencies.

Trump often blames Democrats for delaying his nominations, even though Republicans control the Senate. Democrats can no longer filibuster presidential appointments, but they have used procedural tactics to slow some down. They insist that Trump controls the pace of his nominations. Here’s a look at how long the process has taken for each of Trump’s nominees so far.

Nomination details for Trump administration come from senate.gov. Only Senate-confirmable presidential appointments classified as “civilian” are included. Judiciary appointments are excluded.