Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
2 Senate panels delay meeting on budget pick
Biden still backs OMB nominee in face of opposition
WASHINGTON — The White House is standing by President Joe Biden’s choice of Neera Tanden to lead the White House budget office, even as she faced new hurdles Wednesday after two Senate committees postponed consideration of her nomination.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters that Tanden and the White House had been in touch with senators and advocacy groups to answer any questions they may have on her nomination.
“We’re fighting for her nomination,” she said. “She’s an expert whose qualifications are critical during this time of unprecedented crisis.”
Two Senate panels slated to vote on Tanden’s nomination, the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and the Budget Committee, both postponed business meetings scheduled for Wednesday, the latest signal of the challenges Tanden faces in her confirmation fight.
Tanden’s nomination ran into trouble soon after Biden announced it, and her confirmation was thrown into doubt over the last week after Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia said he could not support her, citing her controversial tweets attacking members of both parties.
Tanden needs 51 votes in an evenly divided Senate, with Vice President Kamala Harris acting as a tiebreaker. That means the White House can’t afford to lose another Democratic vote, and one key centrist Democrat, Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, has yet to announce her position on Tanden.
And without Manchin’s support, the White House has been scrambling to find a Republican to support her.
After three key moderate Republican senators said in recent days they would vote against her, the White House has faced daily questions about Tanden’s path to confirmation. Asked Tuesday about the prospects of Tanden winning Senate confirmation, Biden said, “We’re going to push. We still think there’s a shot, a good shot.”
Psaki described the challenge facing Tanden as a “numbers game” and suggested the White House is still looking for a Republican to support her nomination. Asked whether they had looked at a replacement for Tanden, Psaki said, “That’s not the stage we’re in.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a moderate Republican from Alaska who could provide the key GOP vote Tanden will need, also has not said which way she is leaning.
Lawmakers have based their objections to Tanden mostly on sharp tweets she sent in the past that caustically criticized both Republican and Democratic lawmakers.
Tanden worked for Hillary Clinton and leads the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank. She is the daughter of immigrants from India and would be the first woman of color to lead the White House budget office.
She has apologized and deleted many of the tweets.
Meanwhile, the confirmation of another Biden nominee, received a boost Wednesday after Manchin, chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said he would vote for New Mexico Rep. Deb Haaland to serve as interior secretary, clearing the way for her likely
approval as the first Native American to head a Cabinet agency.
Manchin, who had been publicly undecided through two days of confirmation hearings, said Haaland had earned his vote despite disagreements over drilling on federal lands and the Keystone XL oil pipeline.
“While we do not agree on every issue, she reaffirmed her strong commitment to bipartisanship, addressing the diverse needs of our country and maintaining our nation’s energy independence,” Manchin said in a statement.
Haaland’s House colleagues on both sides of the aisle, including Alaska Republican Rep. Don Young, praised Haaland’s bipartisan
accomplishments and “sincere willingness to work collaboratively on important issues,” Manchin said.
Manchin also said he was pleased that Haaland, during hearings this week, said the Biden administration is committed to continuing to use fossil fuels “for years to come, even as we transition to a cleaner energy future through innovation, not elimination.”
Manchin, a longtime coal industry defender, leads a committee that is crucial to Biden’s efforts to address climate change but has expressed skepticism about some of the actions advocates say are needed to reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming.
Manchin’s announcement came as Republicans denounced Haaland, saying her opposition to fracking, Keystone XL and other issues made her unfit to serve in a role in which she will oversee energy development on vast swaths of federal lands, mostly in the West, as well as offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska.
“We should not undermine American energy production and we should not hurt our own economy, yet that is precisely what the Biden administration is doing,” through a moratorium on oil and gas leases on federal lands, said Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, the senior Republican on the Senate energy panel.