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WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden’s pick as head of the Bureau of Management and Budget apologized on Tuesday for spending years attacking senior Republicans on social media as she tried to convince senators that she would abandon partisan politics if confirmed.
Neera Tanden also admitted to spending “many months” deleting previous Twitter posts, saying, “I deleted the tweets because I regretted them.” But she declined to say she did it to help her nomination.
“I know that some of my comments on social media have raised concerns, and I regret it and take responsibility for it,” Tanden, former Hillary Clinton adviser and president of the Center-Left Center for Progress American, told a Senate committee.
She later added, “I deeply regret and apologize for my tongue.”
Tanden would be the first woman of color to lead the OMB. His appointment requires the approval of the Senate, which moved quickly enough to pass many of Biden’s picks for powerful positions. And this despite the 50-50 split between Democrats and Republicans and this week struggling with the second impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump.
Democrats hold the majority thanks to the decisive vote of Vice President Kamala Harris. No party member has yet opposed Tanden, which means it will likely be approved eventually. But Republicans have signaled the process could spark an unseen political battle with Biden’s other candidates, given her history of criticizing GOP lawmakers she is now expected to work with.
Ohio Republican Senator Rob Portman noted that despite going back and trying to “cover up what you said” by deleting the tweets, many “harsh” criticisms and attacks personal against specific senators “suffered. He said it included Tanden calling Republican Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton “a fraud” and tweeting that “vampires have more hearts” than Ted Cruz, R-Texas.
Republican Senator from Oklahoma, James Lankford, said Tanden has tweeted more in the past four years than even Trump.
“Something this committee has asked candidates quite often is, ‘Do you want to commit to working across the aisle? Lankford said. “And that’s a question we have to ask you a little more bluntly than others, because it’s been pretty clear that this hasn’t been your position in the past.
Tanden said she recognizes “that this role is a bipartisan role, and I know that I must earn the trust of senators from all walks of life.”
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Tuesday that Biden remained confident Tanden would be confirmed, but that no one in the administration had ordered him to apologize to facilitate the process.
“We certainly didn’t ask him to make specific comments in his testimony,” Psaki said.
As the coronavirus pandemic wreaks havoc on the economy, Tanden pledged she would use the position of budget chief to “vigorously enforce my absolute belief that our government should serve all Americans, regardless of party, in all over the country ”.
Still, the debate in the Senate over Tanden’s appointment is likely to focus more on his past tweets than his budget priorities. Cotton said they were “filled with hate”. Republican Senator from Texas, John Cornyn, previously suggested she would face “definitely a problematic path” to the nomination.
Missouri Senator Josh Hawley offered another potential line of Republican criticism on Tuesday, noting that the Center for American Progress had raised large donations from Wall Street companies and groups associated with big tech companies under the direction of Tanden.
“How can you make sure that you will work so that these companies in Silicon Valley and Wall Street do not exert influence,” asked Hawley, “in shaping government policy and in controlling our economy? ? “
Tanden responded that she had called for increased taxes on tech companies and increased regulation of Wall Street and core business interests because “we should move on to a rebalancing of power in our economy.”
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