Neera Tanden, President Biden’s nominee for budget chief, is set to face an old foe at her second confirmation hearing Wednesday: Bernie Sanders.
Tanden, widely considered to be Biden’s most vulnerable nominee, addressed the first major hurdle to her confirmation Tuesday by apologizing for her past social media remarks during her first hearing. But on Wednesday, she’ll go head-to-head with the Vermont senator with whom she publicly clashed during his unsuccessful 2016 and 2020 White House campaigns.
Sanders chairs the Senate Budget Committee, which has jurisdiction over confirming the White House’s Office of Management and Budget director with the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
Sanders and his allies have long been openly hostile toward Tanden. They believe Tanden, an alumna of former President Bill Clinton’s administration and a fierce supporter of Hillary Clinton, used the Center of American Progress, of which she was president and CEO, to boost Clinton and Biden.
Their feud has been blamed for Sanders not taking charge of her confirmation, instead allowing the Senate Homeland Security Committee to start the ball rolling with its hearing. Sanders, though, has been juggling his panel’s work on Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, collaborating with lawyers to lobby for the inclusion of a $15 federal minimum wage hike.
In 2016, when tensions were at their height, Sanders criticized Tanden 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,” Sanders wrote in a letter at the time.
And in a preview of Wednesday’s Senate Budget hearing, Tanden was asked Tuesday about CAP’s funding sources, such as money from the United Arab Emirates.
Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley, in particular, grilled Tanden regarding CAP’s “tens of millions of dollars in donations from Wall Street and Silicon Valley companies,” including “very large contributions from Mark Zuckerberg,” the co-founder and CEO of Facebook.
“The role of OMB is to serve the public, and I’m 100% committed to that role,” Tanden replied. She said that CAP accepted funding from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative rather than Mark Zuckerberg directly.
“I completely take the point about concerns about funding, and I can commit to you I will always uphold the highest ethical standards,” she said. “No policy position I have taken has been determined by the financial interests of any single person.”
When pressed by Hawley, Tanden countered that she and CAP have “aggressively” adopted policy stances against corporate interests, such as higher taxes and more regulation.
During Tanden’s roughly three-hour appearance before the Senate Homeland Security Committee, other fiery exchanges focused on issues including immigration and China.
In those heated back-and-forths, Tanden recognized “the importance of borders and having a border,” though she disputed whether building a wall was the best way to enhance security. She also agreed that China had not upheld its bilateral commitments to the United States, saying social media platform TikTok posed a national security risk if downloaded onto government devices.
ByteDance, TikTok’s Beijing-based parent company, has pushed back on allegations it would share user data with the Chinese government. China’s 2017 national intelligence law, however, compels all Chinese companies to help Chinese intelligence services if their assistance is requested.
But it was Tanden’s own social media use that produced the most political fireworks. Tanden diverged from the opening statement circulated among reporters and apologized for her online rhetoric when she was “an impassioned advocate.”
“I regret that language and take responsibility for it,” she said. “I understand that the role of OMB director calls for bipartisan action.”
Despite her apology, Senate Homeland Security Republicans took turns needling her over her social media tone, especially after Biden has named unity as the overarching theme of his presidency.
Several senators, too, latched on to how Tanden had deleted thousands of tweets before her nomination. The edits were made at her own discretion, not Biden’s transition team, she said.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki later told reporters that the administration didn’t “ask her to make any specific comments in her testimony.”
Biden aides tasked with shepherding the president’s nominees through their confirmations have been trying to soften Tanden’s image by leaning into her immigrant story. They hope that Tanden’s endorsement by Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren will encourage Sanders to let bygones be bygones as well.
Aside from CAP’s funding, a topic that was not broached Tuesday was complaints about how Tanden handled sexual harassment accusations at the think tank after she outed an alleged victim on an all-staff call.
If confirmed, Tanden will be the first minority woman and South Asian American to serve as budget chief.
