Biden names his acting Cabinet

President Joe Biden and his team have begun to name acting Cabinet secretaries and agency heads to lead his administration until the Senate confirms his slate of nominees.

The long list underscores how Congress has so far confirmed only one of Biden’s Cabinet picks, Avril Haines as the director of national intelligence — preventing the rest from taking office alongside him on Wednesday. That’s a break from recent precedent: Former President Donald Trump had two of his nominees confirmed on his Inauguration Day in 2017, while Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton all had more, according to data compiled by the Partnership for Public Service.

On Tuesday, the day before Biden was sworn in as president, the Senate also held confirmation hearings for four of his other Cabinet selections: the Treasury, State, Homeland Security and Defense secretaries. But the next confirmation likely will not come until Thursday at the earliest, although it could slip to early next week.

White House officials, in announcing the acting leadership, said “nearly all” are career civil servants, and many have spent years at the agencies they will now be temporarily leading.

TSA Administrator David Pekoske, for example, will be acting secretary of Homeland Security while Alejandro Mayorkas awaits confirmation. Putting Pekoske in charge means Biden will have a Senate-confirmed leader at DHS who has a deep working knowledge of the department. And David Cohen, who will be acting CIA director, was a deputy director at the agency under Obama and will be returning to that role under Biden.

“These public servants, like so many across the federal government, are dedicated to serving the American people, not a political party or agenda," Biden said in a statement announcing the acting leadership. "Their experience in government and commitment to service will allow this administration to take the reins as we prepare to get the pandemic under control and our economy moving once again."

Here are the acting agency heads White House officials announced on Wednesday:

— Central Intelligence Agency, David Cohen
— Department of Agriculture, Kevin Shea
— Department of Commerce, Wynn Coggins
— Department of Defense, David Norquist
— Department of Education, Phil Rosenfelt
— Department of Energy, David Huizenga
— Department of Health and Human Services, Norris Cochran
— Department of Homeland Security, David Pekoske
— Department of Housing and Urban Development, Matt Ammon
— Department of Interior, Scott de la Vega
— Department of Justice, Monty Wilkinson
— Department of Labor, Al Stewart
— Department of State, Dan Smith
— Department of Transportation, Lana Hurdle
— Department of Treasury, Andy Baukol
— Department of Veterans Affairs, Dat Tran
— Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Lora Shiao
— Environmental Protection Agency, Jane Nishida
— Office of Management and Budget, Rob Fairweather
— Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, Maria Pagan
— Small Business Administration, Tami Perriello
— General Services Administration, Katy Kale
— National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Steve Jurczyk
— National Endowment for the Arts, Ann Eilers
— National Endowment for the Humanities, Adam Wolfson
— Office of National Drug Control Policy, Regina LaBelle
— Office of Personnel Management, Kathy McGettigan
— Social Security Administration, Andrew Saul
— U.S. Agency for International Development, Gloria Steele
— U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, Dev Jagadesan
— U.S. Mission to the United Nations, Rich Mills
— Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Dave Uejio
— Peace Corps, Carol Spahn
— U.S. Agency for Global Media, Kelu Chao

Michael Stratford, Stephanie Beasley, Liz Crampton and Alex Guillén contributed to this report.