Psaki Defends Neera Tanden, Biden's OMB Pick, as Senate Opposition Grows

Neera Tanden’s nomination to lead the White House budget office is all but dead in the closely divided Senate, after two Republican moderates declared Monday they wouldn’t support her.

Senators Susan Collins and Mitt Romney dealt Tanden’s chances of confirmation mortal blows when the two Republicans announced they would vote against President Joe Biden’s nominee. Tanden’s nomination was imperiled last week when Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia said he would not vote to confirm her.

All three of the senators criticized Tanden’s temperament, saying her past habit of attacking Republicans on Twitter -- including Collins, whom she once called “the worst” -- left her unsuited for the budget job. Collins also criticized Tanden for deleting more than 1,000 tweets ahead of her nomination, saying it suggested she wouldn’t be transparent in office.

Romney’s office said in a statement that “he believes it’s hard to return to comity and respect with a nominee who has issued a thousand mean tweets.”

Asked at a briefing whether the White House still saw a way to win 51 Senate votes for Tanden, Press Secretary Jen Psaki said “we do.”

“She needs the majority of votes to get through and be confirmed as the OMB direction; that’s what we’re working toward,” she said.

Democrats hold a narrow majority in the 50-50 Senate because Vice President Kamala Harris can break a tie. Tanden’s nomination would fail if all Republicans join Manchin in voting against her. Without Collins and Romney, it’s unclear whether any Republican would support her.

Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin said he did not know if any Republicans would back Tanden’s nomination but acknowledged “we need to pick up support on the other side.”

“Put a gun to my head, I couldn’t answer the question because I don’t have the information,” Durbin said Monday on CNN.

Even with the new GOP opposition, the White House said it would stand behind Tanden’s nomination to lead the Office of Management and Budget.

Psaki called Tanden “an accomplished policy expert who would be an excellent Budget Director” in a statement earlier and said “we look forward to the committee votes this week and to continuing to work toward her confirmation through engagement with both parties.”

Psaki’s statement was similar to the message the White House sent after Manchin said last week he too would vote against Tanden. Collins, like Manchin, cited Tanden’s past comments on social media in her statement announcing her opposition.

“Congress has to be able to trust the OMB director to make countless decisions in an impartial manner, carrying out the letter of the law and congressional intent,” Collins, a moderate from Maine, said in a Monday morning statement. “Neera Tanden has neither the experience nor the temperament to lead this critical agency.”

Liberal groups and activists had been supportive of Tanden’s appointment to the OMB, especially after she had hired a raft of left-leaning economists and policy experts in recent weeks to staff the highest ranks of the agency.

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