5. Department of Homeland Security · Notable · Needs Congress
Give acting Secretaries explicit authority to finalize agency actions
Printed page 137 5. Department of Homeland Security
“individuals wielding acting Secretary authority should have explicit authority to finalize agency actions, including regulations, to ensure that the department's homeland security mission is fulfilled.”
What has happened
- Not started
Congress has granted no such authority. DHS's own workaround — periodic Federal Register ratifications of prior departmental action by a confirmed official — is the opposite manoeuvre: it exists because acting officials' authority to finalize agency actions is contested, and it does not settle the question the Quote asks Congress to settle.
No action found yet. This entry is the starting point, not a finding.
Research log
What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence
Research notes
Instrument sought: legislation granting acting Secretaries explicit authority to finalize agency actions, including regulations.
Searched 2026-08-28: presidential documents, final rules, proposed rules and notices in the Federal Register from DHS and its components; bills in Congress and public laws, from congress.gov; White House presidential actions; and federal court dockets (CourtListener), including a bulk snapshot of 1.2 million dockets. No bill amending the Federal Vacancies Reform Act or the Homeland Security Act for this purpose was found. DHS has instead published a series of “Ratification of Department Action” rules (2025-09-02, 2025-11-19, 2026-01-20) that cure earlier actions rather than confer the authority the Quote wants.
- Action
- create
- Object
- acting Secretary authority to finalize agency actions
- ID
- 285