The Treasury Department still lacks permanent officials in half of its highest-ranking political jobs more than eight months into Donald Trump’s presidency, leaving Secretary Steven Mnuchin shorthanded as he tries to carry out the administration’s ambitious economic agenda.
Only nine of the 18 positions in Treasury requiring Senate confirmation have been filled, and only three additional nominees have been named by the Trump administration.
Among the vacancies is deputy secretary, who is Mnuchin’s top lieutenant and can be a key figure in the day-to-day operations of the department. Trump has yet to find a nominee for the job since Goldman Sachs partner Jim Donovan removed himself from consideration in May.
“I cannot imagine having this skeletal staff if a crisis were to hit,” said Stephen Myrow, who worked at Treasury during the George W. Bush administration when the global financial crisis began. “So many people go into government with a set agenda but what we’ve seen time and time again is that you spend your time working on crises -- no one knows that better than those of us that served in 2008.”
Mnuchin’s responsibilities include helping to shepherd two major Trump initiatives: a tax overhaul and intensified sanctions against U.S adversaries North Korea, Iran and Venezuela. To help fill in the ranks as he pursues an ambitious economic agenda, Mnuchin has offered financial industry executives advisory roles in his department in order to sidestep congressional oversight.
Mnuchin also manages the $14 trillion U.S. Treasuries market that could soon be under the threat of another debt-limit crisis, and faces the possibility of a federal government shutdown if a spending agreement isn’t reached in Congress in December.
