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Reports emerged over the weekend that Biden was planning to appoint Tanden, former senior political adviser to Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaigns, as director of the Office of Management and Budget. The president-elect introduced Tanden as his OMB director-designate at an event in Delaware on Tuesday.
Since his initial announcement, Senate Republicans have protested Biden’s choice to head the powerful executive branch, complaining about Tanden’s old social media posts. A prolific Twitter user, Tanden is president of the Center for American Progress, a leading liberal think tank.
Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas), one of Tanden’s more outspoken Republican opponents, described her this week as “radioactive” and said her planned appointment by Biden was “really a misstep of the administration”.
“It’s pretty crazy for me to think that she can go back and… weed out all the tweets she’s sent in the last few months, years, whatever they are,” Cornyn said.
In officially unveiling his economics team on Tuesday, Biden hailed Tanden as “a brilliant politician with critical practical experience across government.” For his part, Tanden expressed his belief that the government should “serve all the American people – Republicans, Democrats and Independents.
Tanden has received far more public revulsion than the other candidates announced by Biden in recent days, who were mostly seen as neither too centrist by progressive Democrats nor too leftist by party moderates.
Supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) Were also upset with the selection of Tanden, calling her a loyalist to Clinton who contributed to her presidential ambitions.
Biden’s transition team anticipates fierce confirmation battles over his Cabinet choices and braces for possible Republicans’ slowness on his candidates by focusing on nominating candidates for government posts that don’t require Senate approval.
Of course, the fate of the president-elect’s cabinet and possibly that of his legislative agenda depends on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), With whom Biden has bragged about being able to make deals in the past. .
“There are a number of things that when McConnell controlled the Senate that people said couldn’t be done, and I was able to do them with [him]. I was able to get them, you know, to raise taxes for the rich, ”Biden told The Times.
“I think there are compromises, that not all compromises depart from principle,” he added. “He knows me. I know him. I’m not asking him to bother to make a deal.
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