White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Sunday made clear that the Biden administration is not giving up its fight for the confirmation of Neera Tanden for OMB director.
In an interview on “Fox News Sunday,” Psaki repeated the White House’s line that it remains “committed to fighting our hearts out” for Tanden, whose odds of confirmation continue to dwindle as more Republican senators have come out against the OMB nominee following Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-WV) announcement stating his opposition to her confirmation.
“We believe she is the right person. She’s qualified, she’s experienced to lead the budget department,” Psaki said. “She brings unique experience as somebody who’s lived through benefiting from a number of these programs. And she’s worked on these issues for decades across the aisle.”
Chris Wallace: When will the WH pull the nomination of Neera Tanden to be the Budget director?
WH Press Sec. Jen Psaki: We remain committed to fighting our hearts out for Neera Tanden. We believe she is the right person … pic.twitter.com/aqT3Nfexif
— The Recount (@therecount) February 28, 2021
White House senior adviser Cedric Richmond offered a similar take during an appearance on MSNBC Sunday morning. Richmond maintained that the White House is “still working” for Tanden’s confirmation.
“She’s very qualified for the job. No one is questioning her qualifications. We know how qualified she is. She would be a great voice in the administration. And she could help us get very progressive things done,” Richmond said. “So it’s very unfortunate that it’s going this way, but we’re going to keep pushing. At the end of the day, we expect her to be the OMB director.”
Psaki’s latest remarks speaking to the White House continuing to stand by Tanden come a few days after chief of staff Ron Klain told MSNBC that although“we’re fighting our guts out” for Tanden, he suggested that there would be other opportunities for Tanden in the administration if she does not prevail in her OMB nomination.
Last week, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee’s postponement of its confirmation hearing for Tanden amid her struggle to gain the votes needed to secure her confirmation following Manchin’s opposition. Much of the criticism against Tanden is centered on her mean tweets in the past that targeted some of the lawmakers now deciding her fate in a 50-50 Senate. Ironically, many of the same Republicans who take issue with Tanden’s name-calling tweets have readily excused or acted like they didn’t see derogatory tweets from former President Trump or other members of their own party.
I don’t know how one stops a hypocrite from being a hypocrite. Does Biden pull her nomination and nominate someone more to the left of Tanden?
Voting them out. They stay hypocrites but they’re just sitting home, so it’s less of a problem.
When politics has been raised to the level of a religious cult it’s hard to negotiate. There is not much one can offer people whose obsession requires their opposition to be hanged. And themselves too if they dare to voice any different opinions.
I don’t know whether she gets confirmed in the end or not, but if this is a signal to Republicans (and Manchin) that they won’t back down from a fight, I’m all for it.
Let Republicans explain to Americans how personally offended they are by mean tweets after four years of Trump. I mean, hell, he’s still doing it. Just watch him at CPAC later today if you can stand it. I can’t. To me, he’s like the eclipse…only to be viewed indirectly, if at all.
This is Team Biden sending a message. They know what the Dem rep is.
And a Party advocating the 2024 candidacy of a man who incited a Rebellion less than two months ago is not in a position to complain about mean tweets.