Cabinet

The US Cabinet is a council of 15 principal officers who lead the major executive departments. Each position is nominated by the President, confirmed by the Senate, and carries specific executive responsibilities. This page covers what each cabinet position is, how nominations work, and what cabinet members do in the game.

The 15 Cabinet Positions

Cabinet positions are ordered by presidential line of succession (after the Vice President):

How Nominations Work

The nomination process has three stages:

1. Presidential Nomination

Only the character currently holding the President office can nominate candidates for cabinet positions. The President selects a character (player or NPP) and submits the nomination from the executive dashboard.

• A nomination creates a pending cabinet nomination record for the position.
• Only one nomination per position can be pending at a time.
• The President can withdraw a nomination before the Senate vote closes.

2. Senate Confirmation

Once nominated, the candidate enters the Senate confirmation process. See Confirmation Process for the full mechanics of the confirmation vote.

3. Taking Office

When the Senate confirms a nomination, the character is installed as the cabinet member. Their currentOffice field is updated, and the position appears as filled on the executive dashboard.

Parliamentary Equivalent (UK / JP / DE)

In parliamentary countries (UK, JP, DE), the Cabinet is formed differently. The Prime Minister or Chancellor appoints cabinet members directly after government formation — there is no separate Senate confirmation because those countries lack the US-style Senate confirmation step. Instead, cabinet composition is tracked through the governmentFormations document.

Japan additionally has a Cabinet Bills mechanic — cabinet members can propose bills via a cabinet review step before they enter the Diet. The UK and Germany do not model this; their cabinet members propose bills through the standard chamber flow like any other member.

What Cabinet Members Do

Cabinet members have both structural roles and active executive mechanics:

Structural:

• Occupy a named executive office, contributing to their character's profile and political career arc
• Receive notifications relevant to their department (e.g., budget-related events for Treasury)
• Appear in the executive branch listing visible to all players

Active mechanics (live):

• Ministerial orders — Each cabinet position can issue department-specific orders that apply metric modifiers nationally or to target regions. Orders cost 1 cabinet action and last a fixed number of turns.
• Tier settings — Positions with tiered policy levers can set a national policy tier that applies passive metric modifiers every turn without consuming actions.
• Regional targets — Positions can designate a target region for focused policy effects, with optional non-target penalties to create zero-sum trade-offs.

Action economy:

• Cabinet members receive 2 cabinet actions (or ministerial actions in parliamentary systems).
• Actions regenerate 1 every 24 turns, capped at 2.
• Orders and other active mechanics consume 1 action each.

Future / partially implemented:

• Emergency declarations, advocacy toggles, and treasury transfers are defined in cabinet configuration but not yet exposed as player actions.
• Department-specific influence actions and confirmed-cabinet NPI generation are planned.

Cabinet Vacancies

A cabinet position becomes vacant when:

• The Secretary resigns or is removed by the President
• The President is vacated (upon a new President taking office, all cabinet positions reset)
• An election cycle changes the White House party (standard practice: all secretaries submit resignation letters)

When vacant, the position is open for a new presidential nomination. The turn processor does not auto-fill cabinet positions — the President must actively nominate.

Strategic Considerations

For the President

• Fill critical positions first. Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense affect foreign policy events. Treasury and HHS matter for economic and healthcare metric events.
• Nominate allies. Cabinet members are among the most visible appointed officials. Placing political allies in these roles strengthens your faction and denies the seats to rivals.
• Watch for Senate blocking. If the opposing party holds the Senate, confirmation votes become the battlefield. See Confirmation Process.

For Senators

• Cabinet confirmation votes are a major source of legislative leverage. Blocking a cabinet nominee is one of the most effective tools of opposition politics.
• Vote trading — agreeing to confirm a nominee in exchange for Presidential support on a bill is a classic bargain.

For Cabinet Nominees

• Confirmation is not guaranteed. Your favorability, policy positions, and political connections all matter. Build Senate relationships before the President nominates you.

Related Pages

• Confirmation Process — How the Senate confirmation vote works
• Bills & Legislation — Cabinet bills in Japan (parliamentary systems may include this; UK and DE do not)
• Congress Leadership — The Senate Majority Leader's role in scheduling confirmation votes
• Government Formation — How the parliamentary Cabinet (UK/JP/DE) is appointed without a Senate confirmation step