GOP Aides Say Party Would Fight Neera Tanden’s Confirmation

Republicans have indicated that Joe Biden’s prospective nomination of Neera Tanden to the Office of Management and Budget would not pass the Senate with a GOP majority.

Tanden, a former Hillary Clinton aide and current president of left-wing think tank Center for American Progress, has a history of comments criticizing various Republican senators, whose approval she would need to head OMB.

“Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell [R., Ky.] has broken the Senate, he has broken the Supreme Court, and in conjunction with President Donald Trump, he has broken our democracy,” Tanden wrote in a statement during the confirmation process for Justice Amy Coney Barrett. Tanden also criticized Senator Susan Collins (R., Maine) during the confirmation hearings for Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

“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,” Drew Brandewie, spokesman for Senator John Cornyn, wrote on Twitter on Monday.

“There’s the sacrifice to the confirmation gods…” commented Josh Holmes, former chief of staff to McConnell.

Tanden is the first prospective cabinet nominee to generate considerable resistance among Republicans. Moderate senators Collins, Mitt Romney (R., Utah), and Lisa Murkowski (R., Alaska) have indicated that they will support Biden’s cabinet picks as long as they are “mainstream.” The nominees so far include Clinton aide Jake Sullivan for national security adviser, and Antony Blinken for secretary of state.

Among Democrats, Tanden has drawn criticism for her apparent hostility to the progressive wing of the party. Tanden was an informal adviser to the Clinton campaign in 2016, which held off progressive challenger Bernie Sanders in the primary only to be defeated by Donald Trump in the general election.