With President Biden on the precipice of having to pull his first Cabinet-level nominee as White House budget chief pick Neera Tanden loses support from both Democrats and Republicans, two names have emerged as a potential replacement.
Gene Sperling and Ann O’Leary are being floated as backups should Biden need to withdraw Tanden from consideration. Senators of both parties are balking at Tanden’s now-deleted tweets that she used to criticize former President Donald Trump, Republican lawmakers, and even some Democrats.
Congressional Republicans, though, are wary of prematurely weighing in on Sperling or O’Leary given the volatility of Tanden’s situation.
“We have not heard from 51 senators yet,” but the likelihood that Tanden won’t be confirmed is “looking more likely,” one congressional aide told the Washington Examiner.
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Off of Capitol Hill, Republican-aligned groups, such as political action committee America Rising, are more loose-lipped, arguing tapping Tanden was another example of Biden’s “poor judgment.”
“Beyond her online temperament, she’s stooped to conspiratorial nonsense in the service of partisanship and put her managerial incompetence on display by outing a sexual harassment victim who trusted her,” America Rising press secretary Joe Gierut said.
It wouldn’t be unusual if Biden had to yank Tanden’s nomination, according to former Republican operative-turned- Claremont McKenna College politics professor John Pitney. Members of the opposing party are always “eager for a political human sacrifice,” while members of the same party “sometimes look for an occasion to show independence,” he added.
Former President George H.W. Bush couldn’t confirm John Tower as defense secretary, President Bill Clinton couldn’t confirm Zoe Baird as attorney general, President George W. Bush couldn’t confirm Linda Chavez as labor secretary, President Barack Obama couldn’t confirm Tom Daschle as health and human services secretary or Bill Richardson and Judd Gregg for commerce secretary, and Trump couldn’t confirm Andrew Pudzer as labor secretary, for instance.
If Tanden’s nomination is withdrawn, Sperling and O’Leary are both “able and well-qualified,” Pitney added.
Sperling may be interpreted as a peace offering to the Democratic Left, which feels slighted because Biden chose Tanden in the first place. Tanden, a Clinton ally, and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders were openly hostile toward one another during the 2016 Democratic presidential primary. At the time, Sanders, who is overseeing part of Tanden’s confirmation battle as Senate Budget Committee chairman, even wrote to the then-president and CEO of the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank, and excoriated her for “maligning my staff and supporters and belittling progressive ideas.”
Meanwhile, Sperling, who was both Obama’s and Clinton’s top economic adviser, has shored up his liberal credentials after founding the Center for Universal Education and working for Goldman Sachs, among other consultant odd jobs and fellowships, including at CAP. For example, he published a book last year titled Economic Dignity.
O’Leary, another longtime Clinton confidante and CAP alumna who specializes in health, education, labor, and economic security policy, is more problematic. The political adviser and lawyer was California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s chief of staff until December, when she resigned as the governor struggled with his state’s coronavirus response.
“A political problem for O’Leary is that Republicans might take her nomination as an opportunity to score political points against Gavin Newsom, who is facing a GOP-funded recall campaign,” Pitney said.
Despite replacement speculation, White House press secretary Jen Psaki and the Biden team are standing behind Tanden.
“Neera Tanden=accomplished policy expert, would be 1st Asian American woman to lead OMB, has lived experience having benefited from a number of federal programs as a kid,” Psaki tweeted Monday. “Looking ahead to the committee votes this week and continuing to work toward her confirmation.”
Neera Tanden=accomplished policy expert, would be 1st Asian American woman to lead OMB, has lived experience having benefitted from a number of federal programs as a kid, looking ahead to the committee votes this week and continuing to work toward her confirmation
— Jen Psaki (@PressSec) February 22, 2021
And then during her daily briefing, Psaki told reporters the White House still thinks Tanden could be approved by the Senate, though staffers are taking “nothing for granted.”
“We have been working the phones, in touch with Democrats and Republicans and their offices through the course of the weekend,” she said. But, notably, the White House spokeswoman was unable to chart a path to a Tanden confirmation on the Senate floor.
Democratic West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin set off the White House’s scrambling after he announced last week he wouldn’t vote to confirm Tanden. Manchin rescinding his support endangers the 51-50 seat Democratic majority in the Senate when Vice President Kamala Harris casts a tiebreaking vote. On Monday, centrist Republicans Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Mitt Romney of Utah also affirmed that they wouldn’t back her.
“Sen. Romney has been critical of extreme rhetoric from prior nominees, and this is consistent with that position. He believes it’s hard to return to comity and respect with a nominee who has issued a thousand mean tweets,” a Romney spokesperson said.
Collins questioned Tanden’s experience on top of her temperament and argued that deleting bellicose tweets in preparation for her confirmation battle raises “concerns about her commitment to transparency.” Notably, Tanden didn’t delete a 2018 tweet in which she described Collins as “pathetic” for supporting Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
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Manchin’s defection could be moot if Republican Sens. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, or Dan Sullivan of Alaska vote for Tanden. The trio crossed party lines to vote for Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas earlier this month. Mayorkas has been Biden’s most divisive nominee to date.
Tanden’s confirmation becomes more precarious, however, if Sanders refuses to back her. The chairman also has criticized her tone, as well as her courtship of corporate donors at CAP.
