The White House on Tuesday pulled the nomination of Neera Tanden, President Joe Biden’s pick to head the Office of Management and Budget, after it became clear that Senate opposition was likely to derail her confirmation.
Tanden, the president of the Center for American Progress (CAP), a liberal think tank, would have been the first woman of color and first South Asian American to serve as director of the OMB, an office with wide-ranging responsibility that produces the president’s budget and supervises executive branch agencies.
Biden, in a statement, said that he accepted Tanden’s request to withdraw her nomination and that he looks “forward to having her serve in a role” in the administration.
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“I appreciate how hard you and your team at the White House has worked to win my confirmation,” Tanden wrote Biden in a letter attached to the president’s statement. “Unfortunately, it now seems clear that there is no path forward to gain confirmation, and I do not want continued consideration of my nomination to be a distraction from your other priorities.”
Tanden’s nomination began to run aground over critical tweets she posted about various members of Congress, which she subsequently apologized for, in addition to deleting many. Some senators said that they were worried Tanden’s remarks would make it difficult for her to negotiate in good faith with lawmakers from both parties. Some advocacy groups said a double standard was being applied by lawmakers who in the past did not share the same concerns about White men appointed by President Donald Trump.
Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia — a conservative-leaning Democrat who is a critical swing vote in the evenly divided chamber — was one of the first lawmakers to say he would oppose Tanden, queuing up an uphill battle for her to pick up Republican support in order to be confirmed.
Also Tuesday, confirmation hearings began for Shalanda Young, nominated as deputy director of the OMB.
