The chairmen of two high-profile congressional committees have asked agencies under their jurisdiction to provide information on any political appointees who have converted to career positions, a practice commonly known as burrowing in.
Letters from the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee to the Treasury, HHS, SSA and United States Trade Representative seek assurances that they are complying with laws intended to prevent the practice, which can occur at any time but most commonly draws attention before a presidential transition.
The letters also ask for identifying information on every non-career employee—such as political appointees and political SES members, senior level employees, and scientific or professional employees–who converted from to a career or non-political excepted service position since the start of the Obama administration.
They note that OPM recently issued a memo to agencies stating that they must seek its approval before appointing a current or recent political employee to a career position at any level.
Other committees recently asked GAO to watch for such conversions moving forward. The most recent look at the issue by GAO was in a 2010 report that identified more than 100 between 2005 and 2009, finding that proper procedures generally were followed, although it questioned seven and said there was insufficient information to assess 18 others.
