WASHINGTON — Neera Tanden’s nomination for director of the Office of Management and Budget took another hit Monday with Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, announcing her opposition.
“Neera Tanden has neither the experience nor the temperament to lead this critical agency,” Collins said in a statement. “Her past actions have demonstrated exactly the kind of animosity that President Biden has pledged to transcend.”
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Collins said that Tanden’s decision to “delete more than a thousand tweets in the days before her nomination was announced raises concerns about her commitment to transparency.”
“Should Congress need to review documents or actions taken by OMB, we must have confidence that the director will be forthcoming,” she said. “The OMB needs steady, experienced, responsive leadership. I will vote against confirming Ms. Tanden.”
Collins’ announcement comes after Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., said Friday that he would oppose Tanden to serve as OMB director. He said he had reviewed Tanden’s previous tweets criticizing officials across the political spectrum and said he can’t support her nomination because “her overtly partisan statements will have a toxic and detrimental impact” on the relationship between Congress and OMB.
With Manchin’s opposition, Democrats will need at least one GOP vote to confirm her on the Senate floor. Collins’ rejection of the nomination doesn’t bode well for Tanden, as the Maine senator is among the more moderate members of the party who sometimes join Democrats in key votes.
President Joe Biden said Friday in response to Manchin’s announcement that he didn’t plan to withdraw Tanden’s nomination.
Former Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., tweeted over the weekend that she hopes Tanden is confirmed, calling her “smart, experienced and qualified” to lead OMB.
“We should always remember that there will be a Republican president in the future who will want to have his/her nominees confirmed,” he said.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
