Plum Book Explained

United States Government Policy and Supporting Positions (Plum Book)
Language:	English
Genre:	Non-fiction
Publisher2:	United States Government Printing Office
Subject:	Political Reference
Author:	COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND REFORM
Title Working:	Plum book
Country:	United States of America
Publisher:	Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Publishing Office
Website:	https://www.govinfo.gov

United States Government Policy and Supporting Positions (more commonly referred to as the Plum Book) is a book that lists positions in the United States government that are subject to political appointment. It lists around 8,000 federal civil service leadership and support positions in the legislative and executive branches of the federal government that may be subject to noncompetitive appointment nationwide. It is a publication of the United States Senate's Committee on Governmental Affairs and the House of Representatives' Committee on Government Reform. A new edition is published every four years, just after each presidential election. All tenured positions commissioned by the president are published, including all officers of the United States, their immediate subordinates, policy executives and advisors, and aides who report to these officials. Some positions are kept secret and not published due to being classified via executive privilege.

History

The Plum Book originated in 1952 during the Eisenhower administration to identify presidentially appointed positions within the federal government. For twenty years, the Democratic Party had controlled the federal government. When President Eisenhower took office, the Republican Party requested a list of government positions that the new president could fill. The next edition of the Plum Book appeared in 1960 and has since been published every four years, just after a presidential election.

Older editions of the Plum Book are held by any federal depository library.^[1] The Government Printing Office (now the United States Government Publishing Office) began to make the Plum Book available as an app for the first time in December 2012.^[2] The 2020 edition was published on December 1, 2020.^[3]

Plum Books are considered an important resource for presidents-elect of the United States during their presidential transitions, aiding them in identifying federal government positions to which they can name appointees.^[4]

Number of appointments by agency

, there are 7,935 political appointments across the executive and legislative branches of the U.S. federal government. Many of these positions must be filled by the incoming president every four years while others are career appointments that outlast presidential administrations.

These positions are published in the Plum Book, a new edition of which is released after each United States presidential election.^[5] The list is provided by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM).

Key

colspan="2"	Abbreviations for type of appointment
CA	Career Appointment
NA	Noncareer Appointment
PA	Presidential Appointment (without Senate Confirmation)
PAS	Presidential Appointment with Senate Confirmation
SC	Schedule C Excepted Appointment
TA	Limited Term Appointment
XS	Appointment Excepted by Statute
SES	Senior Executive Service^[6]

Executive branch – departments

	Type of appointment^[7]
	Department	CA	NA	PA	PAS	SC	TA	XS	SES	Total
	130	46	3	14	157	1	1	147	499
	83	36	1	23	96	7	3	101	350
	16	3	0	7	5	0	1	13	45
	29	10	0	8	10	6	1	9	73
	11	1	0	7	4	0	0	16	39
	211	58	1	44	95	9	0	55	473
	35	21	1	16	72	1	1	14	161
	133	25	0	23	123	1	1	29	335
	237	78	2	19	92	11	1	74	514
	84	56	4	18	72	9	161	46	450
	44	23	1	13	81	4	0	111	277
	96	57	8	219	60	6	1	44	491
	32	23	2	16	108	0	0	15	196
	130	36	3	256	86	2	2	10	525
	158	35	0	18	42	0	4	54	311
	92	25	3	35	33	3	0	46	237
	136	41	2	18	61	1	4	30	293
	281	16	3	12	12	9	147	77	557
	Total	1938	590	34	766	1209	70	328	891	5826

Independent agencies and government corporations

	Type of appointment^[8]
	Agency	CA	NA	PA	PAS	SC	TA	XS	SES	Total
	0	0	10	1	0	0	0	0	11
	0	0	0	5	0	0	0	0	5
	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1
	0	0	0	2	2	0	0	0	4
	1	0	7	1	0	0	0	0	9
	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	2
	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	2
	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	3
	2	0	0	4	0	0	0	3	9
	0	0	13	0	0	0	0	0	13
	1	0	7	0	0	0	0	0	8
	0	1	7	0	5	0	4	6	23
	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	2
	0	0	0	5	9	0	0	0	14
	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1
	4	0	0	6	9	0	0	4	23
	0	0	0	17	0	0	18	0	35
	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2
	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	2
	2	0	0	5	0	0	1	0	8
	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1
	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	2
	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1
	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1
	88	30	0	13	62	0	0	15	208
	13	2	0	6	1	0	0	8	30
	0	0	0	6	23	0	0	0	29
	0	0	0	3	3	0	0	0	6
	42	1	0	5	0	0	6	5	59
	0	0	0	4	2	0	0	0	6
	0	0	0	6	0	0	19	0	25
	44	1	0	5	4	0	0	3	57
	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	2
	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	3
	0	0	7	4	0	0	2	0	13
	2	0	0	5	2	0	0	1	10
	3	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	5
	1	0	0	6	3	0	0	3	13
	0	1	0	0	2	0	0	0	3
	0	0	0	7	0	0	0	0	7
	4	0	0	5	0	0	1	0	10
	25	5	0	5	4	1	0	11	51
	14	19	0	2	16	2	0	5	58
	0	0	5	0	0	0	0	0	5
	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	3
	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1
	1	0	0	19	0	0	0	6	26
	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	2
	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1
	0	0	0	10	0	0	0	0	10
	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	2
	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	3
	0	0	4	0	0	0	0	0	4
	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1
	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	3
	0	0	0	0	0	0	22	0	22
	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	3
	1	1	0	3	1	0	0	4	10
	0	0	26	5	0	0	0	0	31
	0	0	0	9	0	0	0	0	9
	30	4	0	4	13	1	0	5	57
	0	0	0	1	0	0	13	0	14
	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	3
	0	0	8	0	0	0	0	0	8
	0	0	0	3	9	0	0	0	12
	0	3	0	0	11	0	0	6	20
	5	1	0	1	5	0	0	11	23
	9	5	0	6	2	0	0	13	35
	1	0	0	5	0	0	0	1	7
	46	0	0	2	0	3	24	40	115
	3	1	0	5	9	0	0	0	18
	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	2
	40	0	0	6	0	0	70	1	117
	1	0	11	0	0	0	0	0	12
	1	0	0	3	2	0	0	2	8
	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	2
	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	3
	26	12	0	3	26	0	1	6	74
	0	1	0	2	3	0	0	3	9
	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	2
	0	0	26	4	0	0	0	0	30
	0	0	0	2	2	0	2	0	6
	0	0	0	5	0	0	19	0	24
	0	0	5	0	0	0	0	0	5
	0	0	0	4	0	0	0	0	4
	0	0	0	5	12	0	0	0	17
	0	1	0	1	1	0	0	0	3
	20	11	0	4	37	0	0	4	76
	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	2
	85	3	0	5	3	4	0	36	136
	0	0	0	5	0	0	0	0	5
	0	0	0	8	0	0	0	0	8
	0	0	0	1	3	0	0	0	4
	7	0	0	1	0	0	0	3	11
	0	0	0	0	0	0	12	0	12
	16	4	1	12	0	1	87	5	126
	0	0	21	0	0	0	0	0	21
	0	0	3	0	0	0	6	0	9
	0	0	0	4	0	0	2	0	6
	0	0	1	0	0	0	2	0	3
	0	0	0	12	0	0	0	0	12
	0	0	0	6	8	0	45	0	59
	0	0	0	6	18	0	0	2	26
	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	1	3
	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1
	0	0	6	0	0	0	1	0	7
	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1
	0	0	8	0	0	0	3	0	11
	0	0	3	0	0	0	1	0	4
	Total	546	108	194	319	316	12	373	219	2087

Legislative branch

	Type of appointment^[9]
	Agency	PA	PAS	SC	XS	Total
	0	1	0	0	1
	0	2	0	0	2
	0	1	1	3	5
	10	1	0	3	14
	Total	10	5	1	6	22

See also

• List of positions filled by presidential appointment with Senate confirmation
• List of United States political appointments across party lines

External links

• Publication download list includes "United States Government Policy and Supporting Positions (Plum Book)"
• OPM
• Complete 2020 Plum Book

Notes and References

1. News: Somerset. Gary. PLUM BOOK AVAILABLE AT GPO. 8–31. Government Printing Office. 21 December 2019.
2. News: Somerset. Gary. GPO RELEASES PLUM BOOK: Available for first time as an App. . Government Printing Office. 12–51. 21 December 2019.
3. Web site: United States Government Policy and Supporting Positions (Plum Book). July 2015.
4. Web site: Bravender . Robin . The new Plum Book is here! Introducing the obscure 232-page federal document that will help Biden find and replace any lingering Trump appointees. . Business Insider . 21 May 2021 . 4 January 2021.
5. Book: United States Government Policy and Supporting Positions (Plum Book). December 2020. Government Publishing Office. PDF.
6. Senior Executive Service positions can be filled by Career, Noncareer, Limited Term, or Limited Emergency.
7. Book: United States Government Policy and Supporting Positions (Plum Book), Executive Branch. December 2020. Government Publishing Office. Spreadsheet.
8. Book: United States Government Policy and Supporting Positions (Plum Book), Independent Agencies and Government Corporations. December 2020. Spreadsheet. Government Publishing Office.
9. Book: United States Government Policy and Supporting Positions (Plum Book), Legislative Branch. December 2020. Spreadsheet. Government Publishing Office.