What is the General Services Administration? Trump appointee delays Biden transition
An agency leader appointed by President Donald Trump and tasked with formally affirming that President-elect Joe Biden won the election has yet to do so — stalling the incoming team’s transition process.
The Associated Press on Saturday named Biden the projected winner of the presidential race after he picked up a key victory in Pennsylvania that put him over the 270 Electoral College vote threshold needed to win. The president-elect has since started planning his transition of power, and on Monday named a 13-member coronavirus advisory task force.
But Emily Murphy, administrator of the General Services Administration, hasn’t yet determined Biden as the apparent winner — a process called “ascertainment,” AP reports
Without her “ascertainment,” which the AP says “green lights” the federal government to prepare for the transfer of power, Biden’s transition team doesn’t have access to government office space or government funding, which is usually made available for the president-elect, according to NPR.
A Biden transition official told NBC News on Monday that “legal action is certainly a possibility” to force the GSA to recognize the transition.
What is the General Services Administration?
The federal agency is in charge of providing supplies and workspace to government employees.
It was established in 1949 by President Harry Truman with the mission to dispose of surplus war goods, manage government records, “handle emergency preparedness” and “stockpile strategic supplies for wartime,” the agency’s website says
“Today, our mission has evolved to provide stewardship of the way the government uses and provides real estate, acquisition services, and technology,” according to the agency.
The 1963 Presidential Transition Act tasks the agency with spearheading the transfer of power as one administration prepares to leave the White House to make way for another, per NPR.
The act requires that the GSA provide office space and administration support to the president-elect and incoming administration, USA Today reports.
“GSA also serves a liaison between transition teams and the federal government, helping, for example, to ensure that a president-elect’s ‘beach-head’ team is cleared to enter each agency and be on the job immediately after inauguration of the new president,” the nonpartisan Center for Presidential Transition says.
Who is Emily Murphy?
Trump appointed Murphy as the head of the agency in 2017, and the Senate unanimously confirmed her.
Prior to her appointment, she worked as senior advisor to GSA’s acting administrator, the agency says. She also worked at the agency from 2005 to 2007 and previously worked at the U.S. Small Business Administration.
During her Senate confirmation hearing, she described herself as a “bit of a wonk” and said she wasn’t “here to garner headlines or make a name for myself,” The New York Times reports.
Robert MacKichan, general counsel to the GSA during the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations, told NPR that Murphy has “so far acted properly.”
“If I were in her shoes right now, given what has been publicly made available, I think it would be premature,” MacKichan told NPR.
But former White House officials and other people who have been involved in past presidential transitions are urging the government to formally begin the process, according to Politico.
“While there will be legal disputes requiring adjudication, the outcome is sufficiently clear that the transition process must now begin,” the Center for Presidential Transition wrote in a letter obtained by Politico, which reported both Republican and Democratic experts have signed the statement.
What happens without ascertainment?
The delay in recognizing Biden as the election winner could slow down his team’s appointment of roughly 4,000 government positions, the AP reports, including “critical national security and health postings.”
“America’s national security and economic interests depend on the federal government signaling clearly and swiftly that the United States government will respect the will of the American people and engage in a smooth and peaceful transfer of power,” Jen Psaki, a Biden transition team member, tweeted Sunday.
Several Trump allies have pointed out that the transition was delayed after the 2000 presidential election because of the court battle between Democratic candidate Al Gore and former President George W. Bush, the Times reports.
The Trump campaign has requested recounts in multiple states and previously signaled it will bring the election outcome to the courts.
But the Biden team told the Times that the 2000 election involved far fewer votes separating the winner and loser than the 2020 election.
Chris Lu, former President Barack Obama’s transition director in 2008, told NPR the delay impedes “your ability to get a handle on what’s happening in these agencies.”
“That being said, if there’s one person who can overcome this, I think it’s Joe Biden,” Lu told NPR. “This is a person who knows the government well, and he’s surrounded by an experienced team of people that have worked in these government agencies. But again, this is not ideal.”
This story was originally published November 10, 2020 at 7:57 AM with the headline "What is the General Services Administration? Trump appointee delays Biden transition."
