Neera Tanden’s battle for confirmation faces blow as Susan Collins opposes her
Susan Collins #SusanCollins
Neera Tanden, president of the left-leaning Center for American Progress, is facing an increasingly daunting battle for confirmation as budget director in the Biden administration after the Republican senator Susan Collins came out against her.
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In a statement on Monday, Collins said Tanden was unfit to run the Office of Management and Budget, which plays a powerful role in overseeing federal finances and regulation.
“Neera Tanden has neither the experience nor the temperament to lead this critical agency,” the senator from Maine said.
In response, the White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, backed Tanden, who she said was “an accomplished policy expert who would be an excellent budget director”.
“We look forward to the committee votes this week and to continuing to work toward her confirmation through engagement with both parties,” Psaki said.
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But Collins’ opposition delivers a blow to Joe Biden as he struggles to fill his cabinet. Several other key nominations are lining up for confirmation in the Senate but Collins made her move just three days after the Democratic senator from West Virginia, Joe Manchin, said he would vote against Tanden.
With the Senate split 50-50, Manchin’s defection leaves the administration needing to persuade at least one moderate Republican to come on board. Attention is likely to switch to other centrists, notably Mitt Romney of Utah and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.
Paradoxically for a party that just endured four years of Donald Trump’s offensive and intemperate tweets, much of the Republican attack on Tanden, who has strong links to Hillary Clinton, is focused on her social media record.
Collins noted Tanden’s decision quietly to delete more than 1,000 tweets in the days after the election. Several of the tweets attacked Republican members of Congress, including Collins, whom Tanden described as “the worst”.
Related: Merrick Garland vows to target white supremacists as attorney general
Collins said the deletion of the tweets “raises concerns about her commitment to transparency”.
The White House is on tenterhooks with its efforts to fill cabinet posts. On Monday one of the most critical positions – that of attorney general, the country’s top prosecutor – goes before the Senate judiciary committee.
It will be an especially poignant moment for the nominee, Merrick Garland, who five years ago was denied a confirmation hearing for a seat on the supreme court by the Republican Senate leader, Mitch McConnell.
Beyond Garland, Deb Haaland is up for confirmation hearings as interior secretary and Xavier Becerra as health and human services secretary.