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Following her confirmation hearing, President Biden’s candidate for the leadership of the White House Office of Management and Budget, Neera Tanden, had to respond to concerns about the hostile tweets she had posted against various Republican lawmakers.
The first Republican on the Senate Homeland Security Committee to interview Tanden, Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, immediately referred to Tanden’s positions, many of which she cut late last year.
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“I think the tone, content and aggressive partisanship of some of your public statements have added to the disturbing trend of more incivility and division in our public life, and in your case, I fear your personal attacks on specific senators will make it more difficult for you to work with them, ”said Portman, noting that the OMB director must work with members from both sides.
Portman went on to give examples of “some of the thousands of negative public statements” Tanden has made. These included his appeal to Senator Susan Collins, R-Maine, “the worst” and Senator Tom Cotton, R-Ark., A “fraud”, saying that “vampires have more hearts than Ted Cruz”, and referring at the time – Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., as “Moscow Mitch” and “Voldemort”, referring to the villain of Harry Potter.
Portman said that even after Tanden deleted the tweets, there were still nine pages of messages left on Cruz that were still live.
Neera Tanden testifies before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs on her appointment as director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), during a hearing on Tuesday, February 9, 2021 at Capitol Hill in Washington. (Leigh Vogel / Pool via AP)
((Leigh Vogel / Pool via AP))
“I wonder, in particular, how do you plan to mend the fences and build relationships with the members of Congress whom you have attacked by your public statements?” Portman asked.
“I recognize the concern,” Tanden replied. “I deeply regret and apologize for my language – part of my old language. I recognize that this role is a bipartisan role, and I know that I must earn the trust of senators on all sides. I will work in such a way. very aggressive in addressing this concern. “
Tanden said she hoped to work “in a bipartisan, non-partisan manner,” while acknowledging that “it’s up to me to prove it to this committee and to the members.”
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Tanden then offered a blunt apology for his remarks.
“For those who are concerned with my rhetoric and my language, you know, I’m sorry and I’m sorry for any harm they’ve caused,” she said.
Portman referred to a report that Tanden deleted thousands of tweets after the November election and asked if she did because she knew she might be ready for a job in the administration.
“I deleted tweets because I regretted my tone and deleted tweets for many months,” Tanden said. She didn’t say she cut positions with a job in mind.
Senator Ron Johnson, R-Wis., Asked Tanden if she had any help from Biden’s transition team when she deleted the tweets. She insisted that no one advised her about it.
Tanden hasn’t just disagreed with Republicans in the past. She also had a tumultuous affair with Senator Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.
During the presidential primaries race in 2019, Sanders wrote a fiery letter to the Center for American Progress, which Tanden led, accusing it of “slandering my staff and supporters and belittling progressive ideas.”
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The Vermont senator, a self-proclaimed Democratic socialist, also slammed a video by ThinkProgress, a Center for American Progress Action Fund project, which accused him of changing his rhetoric about wealthy Americans after he became a millionaire into 2016.
Sanders now chairs the Senate Budget Committee, which will host Tanden for a confirmation hearing on Wednesday.
Fox News’ Megan Henney and Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.
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