Sen. Bernie Sanders revisited political grievances over Neera Tanden’s corporate ties just minutes into her second Senate confirmation hearing, pitting President Biden’s pick for budget chief against the leader of the Democratic Party’s liberal wing.
The Vermont senator, who infamously clashed with Tanden during his 2016 and 2020 White House bids, has the gavel for Tanden’s confirmation hearing before the Senate Budget Committee he leads. And he didn’t hold back during his opening statement on Wednesday morning, opening a slow-to-heal wound that dates to her time as a senior aide to the chairman’s 2016 Democratic presidential primary foe, Hillary Clinton.
Given the “unprecedented” public health and economic crises amid the coronavirus pandemic, the Office of Management and Budget needs a director with “the courage at this moment in American history to think big, not small,” Sanders said.
The federal agency, which will oversee Biden’s budget and policy implementation, requires a director who will “stand up to powerful special interests” that “dominate [the] economic and political life of this country, including what goes on here in Congress,” he added.
“I must tell you that I am concerned about the level of corporate donations that the Center for American Progress has received under your leadership,” he told Tanden, citing how CAP has accepted at least $38 million from corporate America since 2014.
He also vowed to hold Biden and Tanden to account for promises the president made during the 2020 campaign as he sought to appease the Democratic Party’s Left. Those pledges include raising the federal minimum wage, making public college and university tuition free for working families, reducing student debt, and lowering Medicare’s eligibility age from 65 to 60.
The pair fought during the past two Democratic primary seasons when Tanden was CAP’s president and CEO. Sanders and his allies charged Tanden with favoring Clinton, and then Biden four years later, over him, but tensions were most inflamed in 2016.
Back then, Sanders excoriated Tanden, an alumna of former President Bill Clinton’s administration, for “maligning my staff and supporters and belittling progressive ideas.”
“I worry that the corporate money CAP is receiving is inordinately and inappropriately influencing the role it is playing in the progressive movement,” the senator wrote in a letter at the time.
In her own opening remarks, Tanden praised Sanders for his “visionary leadership.” She went on to say any corporate ties forged during her tenure at CAP would have “zero impact” on her decision-making if confirmed as OMB director.
Tanden’s showdown with Sanders followed her hearing Tuesday before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. That hearing focused on her “hostile” social media rhetoric, as described by Wisconsin Republican Sen. Ron Johnson.
On Wednesday, Senate Budget ranking member Sen. Lindsey Graham said Tanden is not his preferred “unity” choice. He then read negative reviews of Tanden’s management style posted online by former CAP employees.
Tanden apologized for her social media language on Tuesday but reiterated her regrets Wednesday.
“Social media does lead to too many personal comments, and my approach will be radically different,” she said.
