Trump Administration (second term) Donald Trump • J.D. Vance

Administration Cabinet •Confirmation process for Cabinet nominees •Confirmation votes by senator •Executive orders and actions •Key legislation •Vetoes •White House staff •Ambassadors •Special envoys •Multistate lawsuits •Supreme Court emergency orders

Transition Transition •Transition FAQ •Certification of electoral votes •2024 presidential election

First term Transition •Confirmation process for Cabinet nominees •Cabinet •Administration

Before taking office on January 20, 2025,Donald Trump (R) identified candidates for the positions that comprise the president's Cabinet. This tradition is rooted inArticle II, Section 2, Clause 1 of the Constitution, which states that the president "may 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."^[1]

As of September 19, 2025, all 22 Cabinet members subject to senate approval had been confirmed.

A presidential Cabinet is a group of senior federal officials who advise the president on the issues and activities of their respective agencies. The number of officials in a Cabinet can vary across presidential administrations. While not explicitly identified in the Constitution, the Cabinet secretaries are the 15 agency heads who are in the presidential line of succession. The vice president is also part of the Cabinet.

During Trump's second term, the following offices are also Cabinet-rank positions:White House chief of staff, the administrator of theEnvironmental Protection Agency, the director of theOffice of Management and Budget, theU.S. trade representative, the director of theCentral Intelligence Agency, the director of National Intelligence, the administrator of theSmall Business Administration, and theambassador to the United Nations. These positions were also Cabinet-level in Trump's first term.^[2]Joe Biden (D) additionally included the chair of theCouncil of Economic Advisers and the director of theOffice of Science and Technology Policy in his Cabinet.

Except for the vice president and White House chief of staff, these positions require Senate confirmation. Between November 7 and December 4, 2024, Trump announced nominees for all 22 of the Senate-confirmed Cabinet and Cabinet-level positions in his second term.

This page provides an overview of individuals appointed to Trump's Cabinet.

Recent hearings, votes, and nominations

The section below displays recent hearings, votes, and nominations related to Trump's Cabinet.Click here to view previous events.

• September 19, 2025: The Senate voted 47-43 to confirmMichael Waltz as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.^[3]
• September 17, 2025: AfterMichael Waltz's nomination was returned to committee, theSenate Foreign Relations Committee voted for a second time to advance his nomination. The committee vote was 11-10.^[4]
• July 24, 2025: TheSenate Foreign Relations Committee voted 12-10 to advance Waltz's nomination.^[5]

Cabinet and Cabinet-level appointees

See also:Confirmation process for Donald Trump's Cabinet nominees, 2025-2026

The following individuals are members of Trump's Cabinet. They have either been confirmed by the U.S. Senate or hold a position that does not require Senate confirmation.

J.D. Vance Vice President	Marco Rubio Secretary of State	Scott Bessent Secretary of the Treasury	Pete Hegseth Secretary of Defense

Pam Bondi Attorney General	Doug Burgum Secretary of the Interior	Brooke Rollins Secretary of Agriculture	Howard Lutnick Secretary of Commerce

Lori Chavez-DeRemer Secretary of Labor	Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Secretary of Health and Human Services	Scott Turner Secretary of Housing and Urban Development	Sean Duffy Secretary of Transportation

Chris Wright Secretary of Energy	Linda McMahon Secretary of Education	Doug Collins Secretary of Veterans Affairs	Kristi Noem Secretary of Homeland Security

Jamieson Greer U.S. Trade Representative	Tulsi Gabbard Director of National Intelligence	Michael Waltz U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations	Russell Vought Director of the Office of Management and Budget

Lee Zeldin Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency	Kelly Loeffler Administrator of the Small Business Administration	John Ratcliffe Director of the Central Intelligence Agency	Susie Wiles White House Chief of Staff

Historical comparison of Cabinet confirmations

Comparison to Biden administration

See also:Joe Biden's Cabinet

The following chart displays how many days it took for the Cabinet secretaries of PresidentJoe Biden (D) to be confirmed after the inauguration in 2021. This chart includes the main 15 Cabinet positions.

Comparison to Trump's first term

See also:Donald Trump presidential Cabinet, 2017-2021

The following chart displays how many days it took for PresidentDonald Trump's (R) first term Cabinet secretaries to be confirmed after the inauguration in 2017. This chart includes the main 15 Cabinet positions.

Comparison to Obama administration

The following chart displays how many days it took for the Cabinet secretaries of PresidentBarack Obama (D) to be confirmed after the inauguration in 2009. This chart includes the main 15 Cabinet positions.

Historical comparison of Cabinet announcements

The following chart shows how long it took the projected winner of four recent presidential elections—Barack Obama (D) in 2008,Donald Trump (R) in 2016,Joe Biden (D) in 2020, andDonald Trump (R) in 2024—to announce their nominees for Cabinet and Cabinet-rank positions.

• White House chief of staff was the first position to be announced by all four with Obama and Trump ahead of his second term taking the shortest time (2 days after the election) and Biden the longest (8 days after the election).
• Trump had named all 23 Cabinet nominees as of December 4, 2024. At this point after election day, Biden had announced seven Cabinet-level positions in 2020, Trump had announced 13 in 2016, and Obama had announced nine in 2008. It took Trump 72 days to name all 23 of the nominees for these positions in 2016.
• Trump announced these nominees an average of 11.9 days after election day. Biden's average for the same positions was 39.6 days after election day, Trump's first term average for these positions was 30.9 days after election day, and Obama's average was 36.4 days after election day.

Appointment confirmation process overview

See also:Appointment confirmation process

Nomination

See also:Advice and Consent

The process begins when the president provides a written nomination to theSenate, where it is read on the floor and assigned a number.^[96] This starts the Senate's procedure of "Advice and Consent" laid out in Article II of theU.S. Constitution for the appointment of high ranking officials by the president.^[96]

Committee hearings

After the president submits a written nomination to the U.S. Senate, the nomination is passed to the Senate committee with jurisdiction over the appointed position. Some positions require a joint hearing of two or more committees. Committee hearings allow a close examination of the nominee, looking for partisanship and views on public policy. They can also summon supporters and opponents to testify. Committees are permitted to conduct their own investigations into the nominees.^[96]

The following table outlines the jurisdiction of the Senate committees in terms of the presidential appointment confirmation process. The left column indicates the Senate committee, and the right indicates the federal departments and administrations over which the committee has jurisdiction.^[96]

Click here to learn more about the appointment confirmation process.

Senate vote

The nomination must be on the Executive Calendar for more than one day before it can make it to the Senate floor for consideration.^[96] Unanimous consent of the time and date for debate must be agreed upon by all senators.^[98] If even one senator does not agree, ahold is placed on the nomination.^[98]

Once the nomination is considered by the Senate, unlimited debate is allowed until a majority of the Senate votes to invoke cloture and close debate. Following a vote of cloture, the Senate conducts a simple majority vote on whether to confirm, reject, or take no action on the nomination.^[99] If a nomination is left pending at the end of a Congress, it must be sent back to the president who can then re-submit the nomination to the new Congress.^[96] The same procedure holds true with any nominee not considered before the Senate enters a recess of more than 30 days, unless there is unanimous consent to bypass the procedure.^[98]

Presidential notification

Finally, the Senate's action on the nomination is sent to the president. All results are recorded in theCongressional Record.^[96]

Recess appointments

Arecess appointment is a temporary appointment made by the President of the United States to fill a vacant federal position while the United States Senate is in recess.

Article II, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution requires the president to seek the advice and consent of the U.S. Senate when appointing individuals to serve as federal judges, ambassadors, Cabinet secretaries, and other executive branch positions. Excluding federal judges, there are over 1,300 executive branch positions that require Senate confirmation.^[100] However, the constitution also gives the president the power to, "fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session."

TheUnited States Supreme Court ruled inNational Labor Relations Board v. Noel Canning Company (2014) that a president can make recess appointments during the recesses between formal Senate sessions (inter-session) and recesses that take place during formal Senate sessions (intra-session). The court also ruled that a president can only make recess appointments during a Senate recess that is at least ten days in length, and thatpro forma sessions, which are sessions where no business is expected to be conducted, qualify as in-session for the purposes of determining whether the chamber is in recess.^[101]Article I, Section 5 of the U.S Constitution requires both the House and Senate must consent to adjourn in order for either chamber to hold a recess lasting more than three days.

Recess appointments are temporary, and last through the end of the Senate's next session unless the Senate votes to confirm the official and make the appointment permanent. So, for example, if a president makes an inter-session recess appointment, it would last about a year through the end of the upcoming session. If a president makes an intra-session recess appointment, it would last through the rest of the current session and through the end of the next session, meaning it could last as long as about two years.^[102]

Ronald Reagan (R) made the most (240) recess appointments among presidents serving from 1981 to 2024, according to the Congressional Research Service.^[103][102] During this time period,Donald Trump (R) andJoe Biden (D) made no recess appointments because the Senate was never in recess for ten consecutive days during either Trump's first term or Biden's term in office. The Senate usedpro forma sessions to stay constantly in session.^[104]

See also

• Donald Trump presidential transition (2024-2025)
• Presidential election, 2024
• Appointment confirmation process
• Confirmation process overview for Donald Trump's Cabinet nominees (2017)

Footnotes