President Joe Biden has completed the paperwork to pull embattled budget chief pick Neera Tanden’s Senate nomination.
“Neera Tanden, of Massachusetts, to be Director of the Office of Management and Budget, which was sent to the Senate on January 20, 2021,” Biden’s administration wrote Thursday, updating the Senate as he fills out his Cabinet and appoints top-level officials.
SIGNS OF DISSENSION IN DEMOCRATIC RANKS COULD COMPLICATE BIDEN AGENDA
Biden’s move frees him up to nominate Tanden’s replacement after deputy director, Shalanda Young, was approved this week by the Senate. Young is the federal agency’s interim leader until a permanent OMB director is confirmed by the upper chamber.
White House chief of staff Ron Klain confirmed last week Young was being considered as Biden’s backup nominee after other contenders, Gene Sperling and Ann O’Leary, took other jobs. Sperling, though, accepted another post in the administration: He’s overseeing the rollout of Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus spending package.
Tanden, the former CEO and president of liberal think tank Center for American Progress, withdrew her candidacy to head the OMB after clashing with Senate Republicans over her partisan social media rhetoric and leadership style during her two confirmation hearings.
Tanden also had heated encounters over her corporate donor ties with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, a socialist who caucuses with the Democrats. The pair have an animosity-filled past thanks to Tanden’s vehement support of Hillary Clinton during the 2016 Democratic presidential primary.
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Tanden yanked her name after Democratic West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin announced he couldn’t endorse her for the role, a critical vote in the evenly divided chamber.
