What's ascertainment? The green light to launch transition

WASHINGTON (AP) — The course of President-elect Joe Biden’s transition to power is dependent in part on an obscure declaration called “ascertainment.”

Some details on that process:

WHAT IS ASCERTAINMENT?

The formal presidential transition doesn’t begin until the administrator of the federal General Services Administration ascertains the “apparent successful candidate” in the general election. Neither the Presidential Transition Act nor federal regulations specify how that determination should be made. That decision green lights the entire federal government’s moves toward preparing for a handover of power.

WHY HASN'T IT HAPPENED YET?

The agency has not said why the decision to recognize Joe Biden as the president-elect has not been made. A GSA spokesperson said in a statement Monday: “An ascertainment has not yet been made. GSA and its Administrator will continue to abide by, and fulfill, all requirements under the law and adhere to prior precedent established by the Clinton Administration in 2000.”

GSA is an executive branch agency. Its administrator, Emily Murphy, is a Trump appointee, but the ascertainment decision is supposed to be apolitical. The White House did not say whether there have been conversations on the matter between officials there and at GSA.

WHAT'S AT STAKE?

The determination clears the way for millions of federal dollars to flow to Biden’s transition team and opens the doors of the federal government to hundreds of Biden staffers, so they can begin assessing agency operations ahead of Inauguration Day on Jan. 20. A delay in recognizing Biden as the next president could slow federal resources to assist the Biden-Harris team in filling about 4,000 political appointments across the government — including critical national...