Hurdles for Indian-origin picks as Senate votes
Indian-origin American Neera Tanden’s chances of being confirmed as US President Joe Biden’s budget chief suffered a major blow Monday after two Republican senators, who were most likely to bail her out by compensating for the loss of support from a Democrat, announced she did not have their votes.
Another Indian-origin American, Vivek Murthy, who is Biden’s nominee for the US surgeon general, could face headwinds when he starts his confirmation process Thursday over earnings from Covid-19 consulting work for private companies. He advised Biden’s campaign on the pandemic last year and joined the president-elect’s task force as a co-chair. But he is likely to be confirmed, although narrowly.
“Neera Tanden has neither the experience nor the temperament to lead this critical agency. Her past actions have demonstrated exactly the kind of animosity that President Biden has pledged to transcend,” Susan Collins, one of the two Republican senators, said in a statement.
Mitt Romney, the second Republican, said through a spokesperson: “Senator Romney has been critical of extreme rhetoric from prior nominees, and this is consistent with that position. He believes it’s hard to return to comity and respect
with a nominee who has issued a thousand mean tweets.”
These two Republican Senators have broken with the rest of party vote against the party line, and with Democrats, they were among the seven Republicans who had voted to convict former US President Donald Trump in his impeachment trial.
Tanden’s supporters looked to them and a few others to compensate for the “No” vote announced by Senator Joe Manchin, a Democrat, last week. Tanden needs the support of all 50 Democrats in the evenly divided 100-member senate, in the hope of getting past the line with Vice President Kamala Harris’s constitutionally provided tie-breaker vote. With the loss of Manchin’s support, Tanden was down to 49 Democrats, and was at the mercy of Republicans to get to 50.
President Biden has said he is not pulling her nomination and said last week he was confident she will be confirmed. The White House is still backing her.
“Neera Tanden is an accomplished policy expert who would be an excellent Budget Director and we look forward to the committee votes this week and to continuing to work toward her confirmation through engagement with both parties,” spokesperson Jen Psaki said in a statement Monday.
Tanden has faced opposition for sharp and sometimes offensive remarks she made over the last four years, especially against Republicans, but not sparing non-republicans either. She called Senator Collins “the worst”; and Senator Mitch Mcconnell, the top Republican “Moscow Mitch” and “Voldemort”.
Tanden has apologised for her past remarks, and repeatedly during the confirmation hearings. “I do think the last several years have been very polarizing and I apologize for my language that has contributed to that,” she said in one instance. But at least one Democrat is not buying, jeopardising her nomination.
If confirmed, Tanden will become the first Indian-american to hold a regular federal cabinet position. Nikki Haley had held a cabinet-rank position as ambassador to the UN in the Trump administration. That post was downgraded after her exit. Biden has restored it to cabinet rank for his appointee, Linda Thomas-greenfield.
Murthy, who will appear for his confirmation as Surgeon General for a second stint, could face questions about consultancy earnings. He made $2.6 million since January 2020 in Covid-19-related consulting last year, according to ethics documents he filed himself, which were first reported by The Washington Post.
The earnings were from Carnival Corporation’s cruise lines, which became a hot spot of the infections at one point, Airbnb’s rental properties and other firms. He also made $522,650 for about three dozen speeches at a range of venues, including hospitals and health insurers.
Murthy advised Biden, as a candidate, and was a co-chair of the president-elect’s taskforce on the Covid-19 pandemic.
No senator, from either party, has raised the issue of his earnings yet. But he had a rocky confirmation the last time around, with Republicans targeting him for his position on gun violence, which he considers a public health problem. He was confirmed eventually in 2014, a year-and-a-half after being nominated.
Murthy’s nomination could run into trouble with Manchin against it. The senator is a gun rights supporter, and he had voted against confirming him in 2014. This time, a spokesperson told The Washington Post, the senator “has not decided how he will vote”.