Senator Joe Manchin said on Friday that he opposes Neera Tanden’s nomination as President Biden’s budget director over her insulting tweets, but Biden says he will not be pulling her nomination.
Biden told reporters when he returned to Washington from a trip to Michigan that “no” he will not revoke Teeth’s nomination, even though she may now be rejected in the evenly divided Senate.
Manchin (DW.V.) cited Tanden’s confrontational tweets about Republicans and Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) Of Vermont, while she was president of the Democratic Party-based Center for American Progress.
“I have carefully studied Neera Tanden’s public statements and tweets addressed personally to my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, from Senator Sanders to Senator McConnell and others,” said Manchin.
“I believe her openly biased statements will have a poisonous and damaging impact on the important working relationship between members of Congress and the next director of the Office of Management and Budget. For this reason, I cannot support her nomination. “
Manchin, a conservative Democrat seen as a critical vote on contentious issues, said that “we need to take meaningful steps to end the political divisions and dysfunction that permeates our politics.”
Tanden now needs Republican backing to pass the Senate, but has alienated many conservative lawmakers with personal insults.
But Biden remained hopeful about Tanden’s candidacy Friday, telling reporters, “I think we’ll find the votes and get her confirmed.”
Tanden recently deleted more than 1,000 of her tweets attacking GOP senators, but also devastated Sanders’ 2016 presidential bid as Russia’s pick against the party’s favorite Hillary Clinton.
Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio) reminded her this month: “You wrote that Susan Collins is ‘the worst’, that Tom Cotton is a fraud, that vampires have more heart than Ted Cruz, you called leader McConnell ‘Moscow Mitch’ and Voldemort. “
Senator John Kennedy (R-La.) Joked, “You called Senator Sanders anything but an ignorant bitch.”
If confirmed, Tanden will hold a powerful post to implement Biden’s policies in the federal bureaucracy. Under former President Donald Trump, the budget office ordered agencies to censure New York City, Portland and Seattle for federal subsidies for allegedly tolerating rising crime or violent protests.
Teeth is scheduled for a hearing by the Senate Budget Committee on Wednesday. She already had a confirmation hearing before the Sanders-chaired Senate Finance Committee this month.
In addition to her vile tweets, Sanders, a self-proclaimed socialist, said he was concerned that Tanden has solicited millions of dollars in corporate donations from the Center for American Progress.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Friday night that “Neera Tanden is an accomplished policy expert who would make an excellent budget director and we look forward to the committee’s votes next week and to continue to work on her confirmation through engagement with both parties. “