Indian-American Neera Tanden’s nomination as US President Joe Biden’s budget czar is in risk after a Democratic senator announced his opposition to her confirmation on Friday.
Tanden’s nomination as director of the office of management and budget had run into strong headwinds from the start.
Joe Manchin said on Friday that he will oppose Neera Tanden's nomination to be the director of the powerful Office of Management and Budget citing her history of attacking leaders of both Democratic and Republican parties.
"Her overtly partisan statements will have a toxic and detrimental impact on the important working relationship between members of Congress and the next director of the Office of Management and Budget," he said.
A loyalist of former Democratic Party presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, she had alienated both Republicans and Democrats with her caustic tweets which have now come back to haunt her. Appointments of members of the cabinet and senior officials have to be confirmed by the Senate.
Despite the red flags, Biden had nominated her in expecting that she would sail through the chamber with the vote of all the 50 Democrats and the tie-breaking vote of Vice President Kamala Harris as the Senate president. But that calculation has been upended by fellow-Democrat Manchin.
It seems unlikely that any Republican would support her nomination in the evenly divided 100-member Senate. However, Biden stood firmly by Tanden saying a firm "No", when reporters asked him if he would withdraw her nomination.
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