Thin-skinned Senators might doom Neera Tanden's nomination

SCREEN CAPTURE / CNN

Neera Tanden's nomination is getting resistance in the Senate.

OPINION

The nomination of Neera Tanden appears to be in limbo, if not dead in the water. Two Senate committees which were supposed to vote on the Office of Management and Budget nominee Wednesday, had their votes postponed, presumably for the White House to garner more support for the embattled Indian American nominee.

Tanden's nomination is in trouble because of some combative tweets she sent out criticizing several senators on both sides of the aisle.

Who would have guessed that the senators had such thin skin, considering we've just gone through four years of one of the most offensive tweeters of all time. Donald Trump weaponized Twitter to viciously attack those who disagreed with him.

Some of the senators who were so offended by Tanden's tweets are the same senators who -- when asked about Trump's attacks -- said they hadn't seen the tweets or that they don't pay attention to social media.

At least three moderate Republicans the Democrats hoped would vote for Tanden said they would vote against her nomination.

Republicans Susan Collins of Maine, Mitt Romney of Utah, Rob Portman of Ohio and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania — have announced that they will vote against her nomination, citing her "mean tweets." They will be joined by Democrat Joe Manchin of West Virginia.

“I have carefully reviewed Neera Tanden’s public statements and tweets that were personally directed towards my colleagues on both sides of the aisle from Senator (Bernie) Sanders to Senator (Mitch) McConnell and others,” Manchin said.

During a confirmation hearing in eaerly February, Sanders had grilled Tanden on her “vicious attacks”, to which she apologised and expressed regret over the statements she made on social media.

At another confirmation hearing, Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, criticized Tanden on calling fellow Senator Susan Collins “the worst”, Republican Senator Tom Cotton a fraud, McConnell the “Moscow Mitch” and “Voldemort”, and for saying that vampires have more heart than Republican Senator Ted Cruz.

Tanden's tweets that offended the tender ears of the politicians don't even light a match when compared to the terrible things Trump said about his various critics or Republicans who dared question his policies.

When Romney voted to impeach Trump, Trump's resonse was, Utah “is the home of our worst senator ... Romney couldn’t be elected dogcatcher in Utah right now.”

"We can disagree with her tweets, but in the past, Trump nominees that they've confirmed and supported had much more serious issues and conflicts than just something that was written on Twitter,” Rep. Grace Meng (D-N.Y.) said in an interview after tweeting in frustration about Manchin’s reported hesitancy around some nominations. “This is not just about any one nominee like Neera, or whoever else — it's just about this pattern that is happening and increasingly hard to ignore.”

So far, the White House has stood fast in supporting Tanden. 

"We're continuing to fight for her confirmation," said White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Thursday afternoon. On Wednesday night, White House chief of staff Ron Klain told CNN, "we're fighting our guts out" to confirm Tanden.

Asian Americans, already stung by not having an AAPI named as a Cabinet Secretary, rallied to Tanden's support,

The Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus sent a letter  to the 100 senators. In the letter they cited her qualifications and the fact that AAPI need representation in the Cabinet.

“Ms. Tanden’s substantial policy, legislative, and executive branch experience makes her exceptionally qualified to lead the OMB and ensure that our nation’s budgets and programs reflect our shared values of hard work, fairness, and respect. As a daughter of a single mother who relied on public housing and food stamps to survive, Ms. Tanden understands firsthand the struggles that many Americans face every day and the pivotal role that government can play in leveling the playing field and creating an economy that works for working families,” wrote the Members. 

“As a former senior advisor during the Clinton and Obama administrations, a former legislative director in the U.S. Senate, and in her role as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Center for American Progress, Ms. Tanden is widely recognized as an expert in domestic, economic, and foreign policy. Not only is she a leading architect of bold policies designed to support working families, foster broad-based economic growth, and curb rampant inequality, but she is also a pragmatic policy maker who understands the importance of working across the aisle to find common ground on initiatives that will move our nation forward.”

Social media activity by AAPI groups ramped up using hashtags, such as #IStandWithNeera. A #YESNeera campaign that used the words “Yes to Progress Yes to Women Yes to AAPIs” reached more than 77.2 million people, according to the AAPI Victory Fund.

“She is being held to a much higher standard, even though nobody disputes her background and qualifications to be OMB director,” said Shekar Narasimhan, AAPI Victory Fund chair to Politico. “It’s becoming apparent this higher standard applies primarily to nominees of color, and it particularly hurts with historic nominations like Neera’s.”

Neera Tanden's spot on Biden's Cabinet as head of the OMB in trouble

SCREEN CAPTURE

Neera Tanden's nomination to head the Office of Management and Budget is in jeopardy.

Asian American activists and lawmakers rallied around Neera Tanden's nomination to head the Office of Management and Budget, which appears to be in trouble in the Senate.

Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Mitt Romney, R-Utah, indicated Monday that they plan to vote against Tanden, citing her intemperate and now-deleted social media posts attacking GOP lawmakers.

Since the Senate is evenly split between Democrats and Republicans, Vice President Harris could cast the deciding vote, however that requires that all Democrats vote for Tanden. However, her nomination may be in jeopardy after Sen. Joe Manchin III, D-W.Va., announced his opposition to Tanden late last week.

“Neera Tanden was a key architect of the Affordable Care Act, which expanded healthcare to millions of American families, and has served as a senior policy advisor to Democratic Presidential campaigns and administrations…Ms. Tanden’s longstanding commitment to advancing policies that improve American lives makes her an ideal choice to serve as President Biden’s top budget advisor,” said Neha Dewan, national director of South Asians for Biden.

The Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, already upset that an AAPI was not named to a Secretary position in Biden's Cabinet, sent a letter to all 100 senators indicating their support for Tanden.

“As a former senior advisor during the Clinton and Obama administrations, a former legislative director in the U.S. Senate, and in her role as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Center for American Progress, Ms. Tanden is widely recognized as an expert in domestic, economic, and foreign policy. Not only is she a leading architect of bold policies designed to support working families, foster broad-based economic growth, and curb rampant inequality, but she is also a pragmatic policy maker who understands the importance of working across the aisle to find common ground on initiatives that will move our nation forward,” said the letter.

Although the OMB is not a Secretary-level post, the OMB director is part of the Cabinet. Hoping to find some Republican support, the letter continued: 

"Throughout her career, Ms. Tanden has worked with both Republicans and Democrats to advance critical bipartisan policy initiatives from expanding the Child Tax Credit to pushing for greater healthcare access to advocating for robust skills training and innovation in education. She has also advanced practical policy solutions by working with organizations like the American Enterprise Institute, the McCain Institute for International Leadership, and R Street Institute, and will continue to prioritize commonsense policy solutions over politics as OMB Director."

Biden’s allies are encouraging his advisors to prepare for the possibility that the Senate may not confirm Tanden, according to CNBC sources.

The White House, however, has stood fast with Tanden despite the criticism. “I think the fact that the president nominated her to…be running OMB reflects his view that she’s the right person to be in his cabinet,” said spokesperson Jen Psaki, adding that the White House believed “her qualifications, her history of working across the aisle with people from different groups who have different points of view is a reflection of how she would do that role.”

What appears to be the issue are the numerous tweets issued by Tanden lambasting some of the current Senators is coming back to haunt the Indian American nominee. Most of the tweets have been deleted but senators have long memories and thin skins, it appears.

In a tweet which has since been deleted, Tanden called Collins ‘the worst’ and attacked her in another tweet for her questioning of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford during Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing.

"Susan Collins' terrible treatment of Dr. Ford should haunt Collins the rest of her days," Tanden tweeted during Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings, when Blasey Ford raised allegations against him.

“The OMB needs steady, experienced, responsive leadership. I will vote against confirming Ms. Tanden,” said Maine's senior senator in a statement Monday morning.

Biden reportedly called Manchin to calm him down and the White House is looking at other Republicans for support. That includes Sen. Lisa Murkowski, D-Alaska, who hasn't publicly stated her vote.

Indian American's nomination to lead OMB in trouble from the start

Democratic activist Neera Tanden is Joe Biden's pick to lead the Office of Management and Budget.

Joe Biden's selection of Neera Tanden as the new director of the Office of Management and Budget is getting slammed from the right and the left.

On her Twitter account, the Indian American nominee wrote: "After my parents were divorced when I was young, my mother relied on public food and housing programs to get by. Now, I’m being nominated to help ensure those programs are secure, and ensure families like mine can live with dignity. I am beyond honored."

As expected, Republicans denounced Joe Biden's nomination of Neera Tanden to head the Office of Management and Budget.

It is not a question of qualifications, the Democratic loyalist liberal is highly qualified for the position. For a number of Republicans, the reason for their opposition appears to be personal.

The same Republicans who couldn't remember reading or hearing about a derisive, racist, or outrageous tweet from Donald Trump, can easily recall Tanden's tweets, which she used to point out the GOP's hypocrisy.

Even before the formal announcement made made by Biden on Monday afternoon, Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton referred to Tanden as a "partisan hack."

"Neera Tanden, who has an endless stream of disparaging comments about the Republican Senators' whose votes she'll need, stands zero chance of being confirmed," tweeted Drew Brandewie, communications director for Texas Sen. John Cornyn.

As the CEO of the liberal think tank, the Center for American Progress, Tanden was highly critical of some of the GOP Senators whose votes she needs for confirmation and the Republicans are not about to let her forget her attacks.

"Neera Tanden is a big-government, big-spending radical liberal who's a terrible choice for OMB Director," Sen. Rick Scott (R-Florida) tweeted. "It's just more proof that @JoeBiden and the Democrats will continue to move further and further to the Left."

Even if the Democrats were able to win one of Georgia's Senate seats making the Senate an even split between Dems and Republicans giving a Vice President Kamala Harris the deciding vote, Tanden might not be able to get a vote from Sen. Bernie Sanders, whom she blamed for taking votes away from Hillary Clinton's run for the presidency in 2016.

As the right amps up their attacks on Tanden, she is also getting criticized from the far left.

“I don’t know anyone personally in Bernie world who is happy about this choice,” said Briahna Joy Gray, Sanders’ former national press secretary, to Politico. “We’re talking about a woman who’s notorious for assaulting Bernie Sanders’ campaign manager.”

Politico also reported that Paco Fabián, campaigns and communications director for the Sanders-founded Our Revolution, said Tanden is “certainly not a unity pick” and “it’s not a secret that progressives and Neera Tanden haven’t gotten along over the last few years on several issues.” 

It is noteworthy that Sanders nor anyone on his current staff has remained silent on Tanden's nomination.

A member of Biden's transition team defended the selection of Tenden: “This is the first time I can recall that an OMB director who’s charged with setting a federal budget will be someone who actually grew up in Section 8 housing, grew up on food stamps,” the official added.

Biden's selection of an Asian American for OMB director drew praise from Rep. Judy Chu, chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus. "Neera is a strong, experienced leader who is ready to tackle the urgent economic and financial policy decisions facing our nation as we work to recover from the coronavirus crisis and rebuild an economy that works for all Americans," said Chu. 

EDITOR'S NOTE: A word of caution, this is news sprinkled with opinion. Readers are encouraged to seek multiple news sources to formulate their own positions.