Neera Tanden was President Biden's pick to head OMB. Anna Moneymaker/The New York Times via AP
Neera Tanden Withdraws Nomination for OMB Director
This comes after senators raised concerns about her partisan history and mean tweets.
Neera Tanden withdrew her nomination to be Office of Management and Budget director on Tuesday evening after several senators said they wouldn’t vote for her.
Tanden, president and CEO of the liberal think tank Center for American Progress, said in a letter to President Biden it was the “honor of a lifetime to be considered for this role and for the faith placed in me” and “I appreciate how hard you and your team at the White House has worked to win my confirmation.” She acknowledged the path to her confirmation seems unlikely and didn’t want “continued consideration of my nomination to be a distraction from your other priorities,” she wrote.
Several senators (including one Democrat) said they won't vote for Tanden in the past several days and the Senate committees that must advance her nomination before she can receive a vote in the full chamber postponed their votes last week. The opposition is largely about her partisan history and tweets critical of lawmakers that she deleted prior to her nomination, a factor that has raised questions about whether or not she’s facing a double standard as a woman of color.
“I have accepted Neera Tanden’s request to withdraw her name from nomination for Director of the Office of Management and Budget,” said Biden in a statement. “I have the utmost respect for her record of accomplishment, her experience and her counsel, and I look forward to having her serve in a role in my administration. She will bring valuable perspective and insight to our work.”
Shalanda Young, nominee to be deputy OMB director, who is a long-time congressional staffer, is widely speculated to be the replacement. She testified at her confirmation hearing earlier on Tuesday that, if confirmed, she would make restoring morale in the federal workforce a priority, along with working across the aisle and being transparent with Congress and watchdogs.
Young is scheduled to testify next before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Thursday.