As we sit back and watch anything but a usual presidential election and transition happen, I started thinking more specifically about the repercussions of Trump not formally conceding the election. Biden and the rest of his transition team face a significant number of barriers to entry as they try to prepare for Biden taking office in January. For example, Biden and the rest of his transition-team are being locked out of crucial Covid-19 pandemic data and government agency contacts, leaving the Biden team with a major lack of crucial information and potentially an even more delayed response to the surging pandemic. Once again, inefficient federal bureaucracies are delaying key processes and getting in the way of what we need, when we need it.
Since a formal transition cannot begin until Trump concedes the election, Biden is not allowed to meet with any federal agencies, such as the Department of Health and Human Services, to start working on the country’s next steps. The initiation of the official transition itself is inefficient – the General Services Administration (GSA), which is led by a Trump appointee, has to sign off on the election and will not do so since Trump has not conceded. Time after time again bureaucracies are slowing down crucial processes. A major source of slack/insulation in this situation is that the bureaucracies that Biden wishes he could talk and work with right now are monopoly suppliers of information, as they are the only ones with the government specific insider information. This leaves Biden with no alternatives and these agencies with no incentive or reason to act differently, since there is no competition for efficiency or information. For now, we just have to wait and see how this transition plays out and hope that with time it doesn’t become even messier than it already is.
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