nomination – COOPER GENERAL NEWS

Neera Tanden, President Joe Biden’s nominee for Director of Administration and Budget (OMB), testifies during a Senate committee about the budget hearing on Capitol Hill, Washington on February 10, 2021.

Andrew Harnik | Pool | Reuters

Democratic Senator Joe Manchin will vote against Neera Tanden’s nomination as Head of Administration and Budget and threaten her confirmation of an important administrative post in Biden.

If a Republican doesn’t support Tanden, Manchin’s opposition would sink their approval into a Senate divided 50-50 by the party. In a statement to NBC News on Friday, the West Virginia senator cited Tandens’ tweets impaling seated senators across the political spectrum.

“I believe their openly partisan statements will have a toxic and detrimental impact on the vital working relationship between members of Congress and the next director of the Bureau of Administration and Budget,” said Manchin, a conservative Democrat who has already broken Biden with a coronavirus has assistance problems. “For this reason I cannot support your nomination.”

If it doesn’t get enough support, Tanden is the Biden government’s first choice to fail to win Senate approval. No Republicans have yet said they would vote for them. President Joe Biden’s election of Tanden sparked more backlash than any of his other decisions for jobs in the executive branch.

Tanden, president of the left-wing think tank Center for American Progress and advisor to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, was harassed in the Senate earlier this month for criticizing lawmakers. Senator Rob Portman, R-Ohio, pointed out tweets comparing Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., To Harry Potter villain Voldemort, saying “Vampires have more hearts” than GOP- Senator Ted Cruz from Texas.

Senator Bernie Sanders also noted Tanden’s story of “vicious attacks” against progressives and the independent Vermont senator. Clinton’s allies and the Center for American Progress grappled with Sanders over disputes over the party’s future during the 2016 Democratic presidential primary.

Tanden apologized to the senators during their confirmation hearings this month.

“I deeply regret and apologize for my language and some of my previous languages,” she said.

Tanden reportedly deleted more than 1,000 tweets before her verification process began.

The OMB director assists in the planning and implementation of the federal budget and executive programs. Tanden, a daughter of Indian immigrants, would be the first black woman to hold the post if confirmed.

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WASHINGTON – President-elect Joe Biden on Tuesday defended his decision to appoint retired four-star Army General Lloyd Austin as his Secretary of Defense, a personnel election that could become one of the future president’s most controversial.

Under the National Security Act of 1947, Congress prohibited anyone from serving as secretary of defense for seven years after active service. But Austin only left the army four years ago, and he would require a special waiver from Congress to circumvent the seven-year rule.

Biden wrote in The Atlantic, tacitly admitting that Austin’s nomination was against civilian requirements, but argued that the strength of Austin’s qualifications outweighed the potential damage caused by blurring the civil-military divide.

“I respect and believe in the importance of civilian control of our military and the importance of a strong civil-military working relationship at DoD – as does Austin,” Biden wrote.

“Austin also knows that the Secretary of Defense has different responsibilities from an officer-general and that the civil-military dynamic has been under great pressure over the past four years,” Biden wrote.

If this were confirmed by the Senate, the 1975 graduate of West Point would be the first black Pentagon leader to break through one of the more permanent glass ceilings of the US government.

U.S. Central Command Commander General Lloyd Austin III holds a press conference on Operation Inherent Resolve, the international military effort against the Islamic State Group (IS), on October 17, 2014 at the Pentagon in Washingon, DC.

Paul J. Richards | AFP | Getty Images

Austin also has a personal relationship with Biden after gaining the President-elect’s trust and confidence in leading the global coalition against ISIS, which began in 2014, while Biden was Vice President and Austin led US Central Command.

Biden also emphasized in his Atlantic essay that despite Austin’s recent active service, he understands “that our military is only an instrument of our national security”.

“To keep America strong and secure, we must use all of our tools,” wrote Biden. “He and I share an obligation to empower our diplomats and development experts to guide our foreign policy, using violence only as a last resort.”

Still, news of Austin’s likely nomination this week on Capitol Hill was met with skepticism, and several key Senators said they were not sure they would vote to give Austin the waiver necessary to take the position of Secretary of Defense .

“That’s the exception, not the rule,” Majority Whip John Thune, RS.D., told reporters Tuesday. “I’m not including or excluding it. But I think it’s something we need to consider when the time comes.”

Montana Democratic Senator Jon Tester also said he was unwilling to give Austin a waiver, even though the retired commanding officer would be “a great secretary”.

“I think this guy is going to be a great secretary,” Tester told reporters. “I just think we should look at the rules.”

Congress put aside its concerns about a military officer’s leadership of the Pentagon in 2016 when President Donald Trump addressed retired four-star general of the U.S. Marine Corps, Jim Mattis, who at the time had only been out of uniform for three years .