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Joe Biden’s pick to head Office of Management and Budget, Neera Tanden, withdrew his nomination after facing opposition from key Democratic and Republican senators over his controversial previous tweets.
His withdrawal marks the president’s first failure as he seeks Senate confirmation for his cabinet candidates.
“I have accepted Neera Tanden’s request to remove her name from the appointment as director of the Office of Management and Budget,” Biden said in a statement. “I have the utmost respect for her track record, her experience and her advice, and I look forward to seeing her take on a role in my administration. She will bring valuable perspective and insight to our work.
Tanden’s confirmation had faced increasing odds. Republican senators who opposed his nomination cited tweets attacking members of both parties before his nomination. And last week, Joe Manchin, a conservative Democratic senator, announced he would oppose his nomination, also citing his tweets. This left Tanden below the necessary majority of votes in the Senate and on relevant committees.
Manchin, a key moderate vote in the Senate, said last month: “His overtly partisan statements will have a toxic and damaging impact on the important working relationship between members of Congress and the next director of the Office of Management and Budget. . “
Susan Collins, the Republican Senator from Maine, meanwhile, cited Biden’s own standard of conduct in opposing Tanden, saying in a statement: “His past actions have demonstrated exactly the kind of animosity President Biden is committed to transcend. ”
Tanden was an unexpected choice to lead Biden’s budget team. She is a longtime ally of Hillary Clinton and has often been fiercely critical of Republicans and Democrats, especially supporters of Bernie Sanders. Tanden said during her confirmation hearings that she regretted past statements, but that was not enough to influence the required number of senators.
Eleven of Biden’s 23 cabinet nominees requiring Senate approval have been confirmed, most with strong bipartisan support.
“Unfortunately, it now seems clear that there is no way forward to getting confirmation, and I don’t want the ongoing review of my appointment to be a distraction from your other priorities,” Tanden wrote in a letter to Biden.
Tanden only needed 51 votes in an equally divided Senate, with Kamala Harris the vice president acting as a tiebreaker. But without Manchin’s backing, the White House had to scramble to find a Republican to back it up.
A potential Republican vote, Lisa Murkowski, a senator from Alaska, told reporters earlier on Tuesday that she still had not decided on Tanden’s nomination yet.
The White House had remained loyal to Tanden even after a number of centrist Republicans made their opposition known, insisting that his experience growing up on welfare and his experience working on progressive policies while leading the liberal-leaning Center for American Progress made her the right candidate for the time being. .
Ron Klain, the White House chief of staff, initially insisted that the administration was “fighting” for her.
Tanden apologized during his confirmation hearing to “people on the left or the right who are hurt by what I said”. Just before the hearing, she deleted hundreds of tweets, many of which were critical of Republicans.
Collins quoted the deleted tweets in his statement, saying the move “raises concerns about his commitment to transparency.” She said Congress “must be able to trust the Director of OMB to make countless decisions impartially, in accordance with the letter of the law and for Congress”.
The head of the Office of Management and Budget is responsible for preparing the administration’s budget and overseeing a wide range of logistical and regulatory matters within the federal government.
Tanden’s withdrawal leaves the Biden administration without a clear replacement. The first apparent is Shalanda Young, a former personnel director of the House Appropriations Committee who has been actively pushed by members of the Congressional Black Caucus.
Other names mentioned include Ann O’Leary, former chief of staff to Gavin Newsom, Governor of California, and Gene Sperling, who was a top economic advisor to Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.
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