Cabinet of the United States
The Cabinet of the United States is part of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States. The members of the Cabinet are the vice president and the secretary of state and other heads of the federal executive departments, all of whom — if eligible — are in the presidential line of succession.
The United States Constitution does not explicitly establish a Cabinet. The Cabinet's role, inferred from the language of the Opinion Clause of the Constitution, is to serve as an advisory body to the president of the United States. Additionally, the Twenty-fifth Amendment authorizes the vice president, together with a majority of certain members of the Cabinet, to declare the president "unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office".
Members of the Cabinet are appointed by the President, subject to confirmation by the Senate; once confirmed, they serve at the pleasure of the president, who can dismiss them at any time without the approval of the Senate, as affirmed by the Supreme Court in Myers v. United States. All federal public officials, including Cabinet members, are also subject to impeachment by the House of Representatives and trial in the Senate for "treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors".
The president can also unilaterally designate senior advisers from the Executive Office of the President and heads of other federal agencies as members of the Cabinet, although this is a symbolic status marker and does not, apart from attending Cabinet meetings, confer any additional powers.
History
The tradition of the Cabinet arose out of the debates at the 1787 Constitutional Convention regarding whether the president would exercise executive authority solely or collaboratively with a cabinet of ministers or a privy council. As a result of the debates, the Constitution vests "all executive power" in the president singly, and authorizes—but does not compel—the president to "require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices". The Constitution does not specify what the executive departments will be, how many there will be, or what their duties will be.George Washington, the first U.S. president, organized his principal officers into a Cabinet, and it has been part of the executive branch structure ever since. Washington's Cabinet consisted of five members: himself, Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of War Henry Knox and Attorney General Edmund Randolph. Vice President John Adams was not included in Washington's Cabinet because the position was initially regarded as a legislative officer. It was not until the 20th century that vice presidents were regularly included as members of the Cabinet and came to be regarded primarily as a member of the executive branch.
Presidents have used Cabinet meetings of selected principal officers but to widely differing extents and for different purposes. Secretary of State William H. Seward and then-professor Woodrow Wilson advocated the use of a parliamentary-style Cabinet government. But President Abraham Lincoln rebuffed Seward, and Woodrow Wilson would have none of it in his administration. In recent administrations, Cabinets have grown to include key White House staff in addition to department and various agency heads. President Ronald Reagan formed seven sub-cabinet councils to review many policy issues, and subsequent Presidents have followed that practice.
Federal law
In with regard to delegation of authority by the president, it is provided that "nothing herein shall be deemed to require express authorization in any case in which such an official would be presumed in law to have acted by authority or direction of the President." This pertains directly to the heads of the executive departments as each of their offices is created and specified by statutory law and thus gives them the authority to act for the president within their areas of responsibility without any specific delegation.Under the 1967, federal officials are prohibited from appointing their immediate family members to certain governmental positions, including those in the Cabinet.
Under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998, an administration may appoint acting heads of department from employees of the relevant department. These may be existing high-level career employees, from political appointees of the outgoing administration, or sometimes lower-level appointees of the administration.
Confirmation process
The heads of the executive departments and all other federal agency heads are nominated by the president and then presented to the Senate for confirmation or rejection by a simple majority. If approved, they receive their commission scroll, are sworn in and then begin their duties.An elected vice president does not require Senate confirmation, nor does the White House chief of staff, which is an appointed staff position of the Executive Office of the President.
| Office | Senate Confirmation Review Committee |
| Secretary of State | Foreign Relations Committee |
| Secretary of the Treasury | Finance Committee |
| Secretary of Defense | Armed Services Committee |
| Attorney General | Judiciary Committee |
| Secretary of the Interior | Energy and Natural Resources Committee |
| Secretary of Agriculture | Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee |
| Secretary of Commerce | Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee |
| Secretary of Labor | Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee |
| Secretary of Health and Human Services | Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Finance Committee |
| Secretary of Housing and Urban Development | Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee |
| Secretary of Transportation | Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee |
| Secretary of Energy | Energy and Natural Resources Committee |
| Secretary of Education | Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee |
| Secretary of Veterans Affairs | Veterans Affairs Committee |
| Secretary of Homeland Security | Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee |
| Trade Representative | Finance Committee |
| Director of National Intelligence | Select Committee on Intelligence |
| Office of Management and Budget | Budget Committee Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee |
| Director of the Central Intelligence Agency | Select Committee on Intelligence |
| Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency | Environment and Public Works Committee |
| Administrator of the Small Business Administration | Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee |
Salary
The heads of the executive departments and most other senior federal officers at cabinet or sub-cabinet level receive their salary under a fixed five-level pay plan known as the Executive Schedule, which is codified in Title 5 of the United States Code. Twenty-one positions, including the heads of the executive departments and others, receiving Level I pay are listed in, and those forty-six positions on Level II pay are listed in., the Level I annual pay was set at $206,000.The annual salary of the vice president is $235,300. The salary level was set by the Government Salary Reform Act of 1989, which provides an automatic cost of living adjustment for federal employees. The vice president receives the same pension as other members of Congress based on his ex officio position as the president of the Senate.
Current Cabinet and Cabinet-rank officials
The individuals listed below were nominated by President Donald Trump to form his Cabinet and were confirmed by the United States Senate on the date noted, or are serving as acting department heads by his request pending the confirmation of his nominees. For a full list of people nominated for Cabinet positions, see Formation of Donald Trump's Cabinet.Vice President and the heads of the executive departments
The Cabinet includes the vice president and the heads of 15 executive departments, listed here according to their order of succession to the presidency. These 15 positions are the core "cabinet member" seats, as distinct from other Cabinet-level seats for other various top level White House staffers and heads of other government agencies, none of whom are in the presidential line of succession and not all of whom are Officers of the United States. Note that the speaker of the House and the president pro tempore of the Senate follow the vice president and precede the secretary of state in the order of succession, but both are in the legislative branch and are not part of the Cabinet.| Office | Incumbent | Took office |
Vice President | Mike Pence | January 20, 2017 |
Secretary of State .jpg|100px Mike Pompeo | April 26, 2018 | |
Secretary of the Treasury .jpg|100px Steven Mnuchin | February 13, 2017 | |
Secretary of Defense .jpg|100px Mark Esper | July 23, 2019 | |
Attorney General .jpg|100px William Barr | February 14, 2019 | |
Secretary of the Interior .jpg|100px David Bernhardt | January 2, 2019 | |
Secretary of Agriculture .jpg|100px Eugene Scalia | September 30, 2019 | |
Secretary of Health and Human Services .jpg|100px Alex Azar | January 29, 2018 | |
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development .jpg|100px Elaine Chao | January 31, 2017 | |
Secretary of Energy .jpg|100px Dan Brouillette | December 2, 2019 | |
Secretary of Education .jpg|100px Betsy DeVos | February 7, 2017 | |
Secretary of Veterans Affairs .jpg|100px Robert Wilkie | July 30, 2018 | |
Secretary of Homeland Security .jpg|100px Chad Wolf | November 13, 2019 Acting |
Cabinet-level officials
The following officials hold positions that are considered to be Cabinet-level positions:| Office | Incumbent | Term began |
White House Chief of Staff |alt= Mark Meadows | March 31, 2020 | |
Trade Representative .jpg|100px|link=Robert Lighthizer|alt= Robert Lighthizer | May 15, 2017 | |
Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe | May 26, 2020 | |
Director of the Office of Management and Budget .jpg|100px|link=Gina Haspel|alt= Gina Haspel | April 26, 2018 | |
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency .jpg|100px|link=Jovita Carranza|alt= Jovita Carranza | January 16, 2020 |
Former executive and Cabinet-level departments
- Department of War, headed by the secretary of war: renamed Department of the Army by the National Security Act of 1947.
- Department of the Navy, headed by the secretary of the Navy: became a military department within the Department of Defense.
- Post Office Department, headed by the postmaster general: reorganized as the United States Postal Service, an independent agency.
- National Military Establishment, headed by the secretary of Defense: created by the National Security Act of 1947 and recreated as the Department of Defense in 1949.
- Department of the Army, headed by the secretary of the Army: became a military department within the Department of Defense.
- Department of the Air Force, headed by the secretary of the Air Force: became a military department within the Department of Defense.
Renamed heads of the executive departments
- Secretary of Foreign Affairs: created in July 1781 and renamed Secretary of State in September 1789.
- Secretary of War: created in 1789 and was renamed as Secretary of the Army by the National Security Act of 1947. The 1949 Amendments to the National Security Act of 1947 made the secretary of the Army a subordinate to the secretary of defense.
- Secretary of Commerce and Labor: created in 1903 and renamed Secretary of Commerce in 1913 when its labor functions were transferred to the new secretary of labor.
- Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare: created in 1953 and renamed Secretary of Health and Human Services in 1979 when its education functions were transferred to the new secretary of education.
Other positions no longer of Cabinet rank
- Counselor to the President : A title used by high-ranking political advisers to the president of the United States and senior members of the Executive Office of the President since the Nixon administration. Incumbents with Cabinet rank included Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Donald Rumsfeld and Anne Armstrong.
- Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency : Created as an independent agency in 1979, raised to Cabinet rank in 1996, and dropped from Cabinet rank in 2001.
- Director of Central Intelligence
- Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy
- Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers
- United States Ambassador to the United Nations
Proposed Cabinet departments
- "Department of Industry and Commerce", proposed by Secretary of the Treasury William Windom in a speech given at a Chamber of Commerce dinner in May 1881.
- "Department of Natural Resources", proposed by the Eisenhower administration, President Richard Nixon, the 1976 GOP national platform, and by Bill Daley.
- "Department of Peace", proposed by Senator Matthew Neely in the 1930s, Congressman Dennis Kucinich, 2020 presidential candidate Marianne Williamson, and other members of the U.S. Congress.
- "Department of Social Welfare", proposed by President Franklin Roosevelt in January 1937.
- "Department of Public Works", proposed by President Franklin Roosevelt in January 1937.
- "Department of Conservation" proposed by President Franklin Roosevelt in January 1937.
- "Department of Urban Affairs and Housing", proposed by President John F. Kennedy.
- "Department of Business and Labor", proposed by President Lyndon Johnson.
- "Department of Community Development", proposed by President Richard Nixon; to be chiefly concerned with rural infrastructure development.
- "Department of Human Resources" proposed by President Richard Nixon; essentially a revised Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.
- "Department of Economic Affairs" proposed by President Richard Nixon; essentially a consolidation of the Departments of Commerce, Labor, and Agriculture.
- "Department of Environmental Protection", proposed by Senator Arlen Specter and others.
- "Department of Intelligence", proposed by former Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell.
- "Department of Global Development", proposed by the Center for Global Development.
- "Department of Art", proposed by Quincy Jones.
- "Department of Business", proposed by President Barack Obama as a consolidation of the U.S. Department of Commerce's core business and trade functions, the Small Business Administration, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, the Export-Import Bank, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, and the U.S. Trade and Development Agency.
- "Department of Education and the Workforce" proposed by President Donald Trump as a consolidation of the Departments of Education and Labor.
- "Department of Health and Public Welfare" proposed by President Donald Trump as a renamed Department of Health and Human Services.
- "Department of Economic Development" proposed by Senator Elizabeth Warren to replace the Commerce Department, subsume other agencies like the Small Business Administration and the Patent and Trademark Office, and include research and development programs, worker training programs, and export and trade authorities like the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative with the single goal of creating and defending good American jobs.
- "Department of Technology" proposed by businessman and 2020 Democratic presidential Candidate Andrew Yang.
- "Department of Children and Youth", proposed by Marianne Williamson.