Providing an Order of Succession Within the Department of the Treasury
Signed August 12, 2016·Barack Obama·81 FR 54709
Source
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Plain-language summary
Establishes an order of succession for the office of Secretary of the Treasury, specifying who acts as Secretary if both the Secretary and Deputy Secretary die, resign, or become unable to serve. The line of succession runs through the Under Secretaries of the Treasury, the General Counsel, Deputy Under Secretaries and Senate-confirmed Assistant Secretaries, and then a listed sequence of officials including the Chief of Staff, the Assistant Secretary for Management, the Fiscal Assistant Secretary, the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, the Commissioner of the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, a Deputy Commissioner within that bureau, and the Commissioner of the Wage and Investment Division of the Internal Revenue Service. It bars anyone serving in an acting capacity in these roles from acting as Secretary under this order, preserves the President's discretion to designate a different acting Secretary under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, and requires eligibility under that Act. It revokes Executive Order 13246 and a related 2002 presidential memorandum, and states it creates no enforceable legal rights.
Not written or reviewed by a person. Read the full order below for anything you intend to rely on.
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Legal standing
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Claimed authority
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998, as amended, 5 U.S.C. 3345 et seq. (the “Act”), it is hereby ordered
Quoted from the order as written. Many orders cite nothing more specific than “the Constitution and the laws”; this reproduces what the order claims, not an assessment of whether it holds.
Disposition
Revoked by: EO 14137 January 3, 2025
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The order, in full
Executive Order 13735 of August 12, 2016
Providing an Order of Succession Within the
Department of the Treasury
By the authority vested in me as President by the
Constitution and the laws of the United States of
America, including the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of
1998, as amended, 5 U.S.C. 3345 et seq. (the “Act”),
it is hereby ordered that:
Section 1. Subject to the provisions of section 3 of
this Executive Order, the officers named in section 2,
in the order listed, shall act as and perform the
functions and duties of the office of Secretary of the
Treasury (Secretary) during any period when both the
Secretary and the Deputy Secretary of the Treasury have
died, resigned, or are otherwise unable to perform the
functions and duties of the office of Secretary.
Sec. 2. Order of Succession. (a) Under Secretaries of
the Treasury, in the order in which they shall have
taken the oath of office as such officers;
(b) General Counsel of the Department of the
Treasury;
(c) Deputy Under Secretaries of the Treasury and
those Assistant Secretaries of the Treasury appointed
by the President by and with the consent of the Senate,
in the order in which they shall have taken the oath of
office as such officers; and
(d) the following officers of the Department of the
Treasury, in the order listed:
(i) Chief of Staff;
(ii) Assistant Secretary for Management;
(iii) Fiscal Assistant Secretary;
(iv) Commissioner of Internal Revenue, Internal Revenue Service;
(v) Commissioner, Bureau of the Fiscal Service;
(vi) Deputy Commissioner, Fiscal Accounting and Shared Services, Bureau of
the Fiscal Service; and
(vii) Commissioner, Wage and Investment Division, Internal Revenue Service.
Sec. 3. Exceptions. (a) No individual who is serving in
an office listed in section 2(a)-(d) in an acting
capacity shall, by virtue of so serving, act as
Secretary pursuant to this Executive Order.
(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of this
Executive Order, the President retains discretion, to
the extent permitted by the Act, to depart from this
Executive Order in designating an acting Secretary.
(c) No individual listed in section 2(a)-(d) shall
act as Secretary unless that individual is otherwise
eligible to serve under the Act.
Sec. 4. Revocation. Executive Order 13246 of December
18, 2001, and the Presidential Memorandum of March 19,
2002 (“Designation of Officers of the Department of
the Treasury”), are hereby revoked.
Sec. 5. Judicial Review. This order is not intended to,
and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive
or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any
party against the United States, its departments,
agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or
agents, or any other person.
(Presidential Sig.)
THE WHITE HOUSE,
August 12, 2016.Reproduced from the Federal Register plain-text record, signed August 12, 2016. Typesetting artifacts are removed; no wording is changed.