The Deputy Secretary of the Interior, in the United States government, advises and assists the Secretary of the Interior in the supervision and direction of the Department of the Interior and its activities, and succeeds the Secretary in his or her absence, sickness, or unavailability. The Deputy Secretary of the Interior is appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. In 1990, the title of the position was changed from Under Secretary of the Interior to Deputy Secretary of the Interior.
President Obama nominated David Hayes to be the Deputy Secretary. He was confirmed on May 20, 2009.
With the resignation Secretary Gale Norton announced March 10, 2006, effective at the end of March, Lynn Scarlett became the Acting Secretary of the Interior until President George W. Bush's nomination for Secretary, Dirk Kempthorne, was confirmed by the United States Senate on May 26 of that year.
Section 3346 of U.S. Code within Title 5, or 5 U.S.C. ยง 3346, details time limitations of acting officers. An acting officer may serve no longer than 210 days after the vacancy, from the date a first or second nomination is pending before the Senate, the date a first or second nomination is withdrawn, rejected, or returned, or the date the Senate reconvenes if the appointment has taken place while Congress has adjourned sine die.
Famous quotes containing the words united states, united, states, deputy, secretary and/or interior:
“On the whole, yes, I would rather be the Chief Justice of the United States, and a quieter life than that which becomes at the White House is more in keeping with the temperament, but when taken into consideration that I go into history as President, and my children and my children’s children are the better placed on account of that fact, I am inclined to think that to be President well compensates one for all the trials and criticisms he has to bear and undergo.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)
“On the whole, yes, I would rather be the Chief Justice of the United States, and a quieter life than that which becomes at the White House is more in keeping with the temperament, but when taken into consideration that I go into history as President, and my children and my children’s children are the better placed on account of that fact, I am inclined to think that to be President well compensates one for all the trials and criticisms he has to bear and undergo.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)
“On 16 September 1985, when the Commerce Department announced that the United States had become a debtor nation, the American Empire died.”
—Gore Vidal (b. 1925)
“Not all the water in the rough rude sea
Can wash the balm off from an anointed king;
The breath of worldly men cannot depose
The deputy elected by the Lord.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“The truth is, the whole administration under Roosevelt was demoralized by the system of dealing directly with subordinates. It was obviated in the State Department and the War Department under [Secretary of State Elihu] Root and me [Taft was the Secretary of War], because we simply ignored the interference and went on as we chose.... The subordinates gained nothing by his assumption of authority, but it was not so in the other departments.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)
“It cannot but affect our philosophy favorably to be reminded of these shoals of migratory fishes, of salmon, shad, alewives, marsh-bankers, and others, which penetrate up the innumerable rivers of our coast in the spring, even to the interior lakes, their scales gleaming in the sun; and again, of the fry which in still greater numbers wend their way downward to the sea.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)