Neera Tanden, President Joe Biden’s nominee to lead the Office of Management and Budget, is facing scrutiny from members of Congress. As Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., announced on Friday that he would vote against her confirmation, it significantly reduces the likelihood of her confirmation given Republican resistance to her confirmation.
The OMB, which is the largest office within the executive branch, is responsible for producing the president’s budget as well as ensuring other agencies’ programs and procedures comply with the president’s policy goals. The Director of the OMB, the position Tanden has been chosen for, is a cabinet-level position and requires Senate confirmation.
Tanden, the current director at the Center for American Progress, a left-leaning policy think tank that worked for the Barack Obama and Bill Clinton administrations, as well as for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, is facing a difficult path to confirmation.
Both conservatives and progressives objected to Tanden’s nomination, as many conservatives denounced her for being too liberal and progressives dismissed her as being too conservative. Her past tweets, which were very critical of numerous conservative lawmakers and of Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., a progressive who caucuses with the Democrats.
Many progressives dislike Tanden as they believe she caused the downfall of Sanders’s 2016 presidential campaign in order to bolster Hillary Clinton’s campaign. In a Senate Budget Committee hearing, Sanders, the chair of this committee, said that some of Tanden’s past remarks were “vicious attacks” against progressives. Sanders had also criticized the Center for American Progress in 2019, saying that it played a “destructive role” against his 2020 presidential campaign.
However, not all progressives are against Tanden’s nomination: Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., both voiced support for Tanden’s confirmation. Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., congratulated Tanden on her nomination. And Stacey Abrams, the Georgian voting rights advocate and former minority leader in the Georgia state House, congratulated Tanden too.
Conservatives have also disliked Tanden for being too liberal. Many conservatives, like Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., called Tanden a “big-government, big-spending radical liberal who’s a terrible choice for OMB director.” Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., called her a “partisan activist” while Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, called her Biden’s “worst nominee so far.”
With no Republican so far voicing their support for Tanden’s confirmation, Sanders’s position on Tanden’s confirmation unclear, and Manchin—a conservative Democrat—announcing his opposition to her, Tanden is unlikely to be confirmed, unless at least one other Republican senator voices support. So far, Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Mitt Romney, R-Utah, both moderate Republicans, have announced they would vote no on Tanden’s nomination. With a 50-50 Senate, Democrats require one Republican to defect in order for Tanden to be confirmed. The last moderate Republican senator who hasn’t stated a side yet is Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.
When the White House was asked whether Tanden’s nomination would be pulled, Biden replied, “No.” It stood firm with Tanden, with press secretary Jen Psaki calling her “an accomplished policy expert” who is an “excellent” choice to head the powerful OMB.
However, with Tanden’s confirmation increasingly unlikely, many Democratic activists are already scrambling for the possible position opening. Gene Sperling, a progressive who’s served in both the Clinton and Obama administrations, is one of the top names being floated. If nominated, he would likely be easily confirmed since he is an uncontroversial figure and already has strong relations with both progressive and centrist Democrats.
On the other hand, there are some concerns to nominating Sperling, namely the fact that it would jeopardize a campaign promise Biden made—to build a diverse cabinet representative of the American people. Tanden, an Indian American woman, would be just one of three Asians (Vice President Kamala Harris and Trade Representative nominee Katherine Tai are the other two) to serve in the Biden cabinet.
Another name being floated is Ann O’Leary. Being a woman, she would help fulfill the goal of making a more diverse cabinet. She also has close ties to many top names in the Biden administration, such as White House chief of staff Ron Klain. She is also a veteran of the Clinton administration and was a top adviser during Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, with her policy work being widely praised by Democrats. Unfortunately, her recent job as California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s chief of staff might be a problem, since she left the Newsom administration before she was given a job in the Biden administration and left at the same time when Newsom began facing a recall effort over his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Therefore, Biden could choose to promote Shalanda Young, the current nominee to serve as the deputy director of the OMB, to fill in this position. Young, who is a Black woman, has bipartisan support in Congress and has worked as a staff director for Democrats in the House Appropriations Committee.
Even though Biden and many Democrats don’t want to give up on Tanden just yet, it is important that the top post at OMB is filled quickly, as the position is very important and the administration is likely to produce a budget in the near future. If senators like Sanders or the last remaining likely swing GOP vote from Murkowski, refuse to support Tanden’s nomination, Biden is likely to choose someone else to head the OMB.