The White House on Tuesday abandoned its push to install Neera Tanden as the director of President Biden’s budget office after senators in both parties had opposed confirming her, making her nomination the first casualty of the evenly split Senate.
In a statement, Mr. Biden said that he had accepted Ms. Tanden’s request to withdraw herself from consideration for the post but said he planned for her to have a “role” in his administration.
“I have accepted Neera Tanden’s request to withdraw her name from nomination for Director of the Office of Management and Budget. I have the utmost respect for her record of accomplishment, her experience and her counsel, and I look forward to having her serve in a role in my Administration. She will bring valuable perspective and insight to our work,” Mr. Biden said.
Ms. Tanden, who was a senior adviser to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, had drawn bipartisan rebuke for social media posts that criticized lawmakers in both parties and for her work at a liberal think tank. Mr. Biden selected her to direct the Office of Management and Budget before Democrats had won control of the Senate, surprising lawmakers and aides in both parties.
During Ms. Tanden’s confirmation hearings, senators grilled her about her social media posts and her decision to delete more than 1,000 Twitter comments before appearing on Capitol Hill. She apologized for the online venom, but it was clear that some senators were not inclined to disregard it.
Having clashed with Senator Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent who chairs the Budget Committee, and other progressives, Ms. Tanden also faced scrutiny for her comments attacking progressives and for corporate donations she had secured while she was in charge of the Center for American Progress.
In the past 10 days, her nomination had teetered on the brink of collapse as centrist Democrats and Republicans — first Senator Joe Manchin III, Democrat of West Virginia, then Senators Mitt Romney of Utah and Susan Collins of Maine, both Republicans — announced they would not back her. That imperiled Ms. Tanden’s margin for confirmation in the 50-50 Senate, leading two committees to abruptly postpone votes last week on advancing her nomination.
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