The growing intrigue over a trio of controversial presidential choices is also emphasizing the power of senators like Democrat Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Republican Lisa Murkowski of Alaska when the party balance is so divided.
Although Biden has seen first-rate national security selections, such as Antony Blinken as secretary of state and Lloyd Austin at the installed Pentagon, the focus on nominees whose portfolios touch on some of the most sensitive domestic political issues is taking the confirmation process to litigation. growing.
Another hard-hitting audience is approaching on Tuesday for Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, whose opposition to fossil fuels makes Republican Party members view her as extreme, in a confrontation that can also be uncomfortable for moderate Democrats .
It is not uncommon for new presidents to have problems with some nominees – or even to see several potential Cabinet members fall. Blocking a choice is an easy way for senators to flex their power and signal to a new White House that they cannot be taken for granted. And the political shocks that obscure the hopes of confirmation from candidates like Haaland and Tanden are quite predictable, as they reflect the gaps between parties.
But when a president has a reasonable majority of rulers in the Senate, confirmations become easier. If Democrats had a handful of seats left, for example, a senator like Manchin, who must constantly judge the winds in his ultraconservative state in West Virginia, he could be approved.
But when nominations depend on a party line of votes and a tie-breaker launched by Vice President Kamala Harris, Democratic leaders cannot offer any political coverage – at least without some defections from the Republican ranks.
For now, the problem concerns the individual nominees of the Cabinet – whose defeat would hurt Biden and dent the body of his government machine. But in the coming months, when it comes to broad and electorally radioactive issues like climate change and immigration, your entire presidency will be at stake.
Although the situation is worrying now, it is not out of the question that an illness, disability or even death among elderly senators could wipe out their ruling majority forever.
An appointment on the verge
Tanden’s struggles are characteristic of nominees who have problems stemming from their own political vulnerabilities, but who are also victims of broader political forces beyond their individual destinies.
Still, Tanden, the president of the liberal think tank Center for American Progress, is in the slightly unique position of seeing her support struggle on the right and on the left – a scenario that led some observers to register surprise when she was nominated.
Republican senators say they are offended by some of her now excluded tweets, which have criticized the Republican Party and the individual senators she now needs to vote for her. Of course, it’s a little rich for Republicans to complain about someone’s tweets after spending four years training a president whose social media window has left Tanden in the dust. And then there is the question of whether Tanden, a prominent female political figure born to Indian immigrant parents, is a victim of double standards bias.
Still, hypocrisy is the grease that usually turns the gears in the Senate. And Tanden also has warm support from his own side. She was forced to try to make peace with Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont who joins the Democrats, who now chairs the Budget Committee and would be her primary contact. Sanders’ supporters accused Tanden of being among the Democratic elites who they believe stacked the party’s nomination race against him and in favor of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2016. During his confirmation hearing, Tanden had to apologize. so Sanders complained about his “cruelty” attacks on progressives.
Given her always questionable prospects, there was little incentive for a senator like Manchin to support her. West Virginian supported the president’s nominees, who have obtained total votes so far. And he voted to condemn former President Donald Trump in his Senate impeachment trial – which was an unpleasant choice, as his home state overwhelmingly supports the former president.
So in order to safeguard his brand as a relatively independent voice and avoid being branded by Biden, Manchin probably needed to establish himself somewhere. He explained that he could not support Tanden because she represented the kind of divisive politics that Biden wants to expel from Washington.
“I don’t know her, probably a very, very good person, just basically a little bit toxic now,” Manchin told reporters on Capitol Hill on Monday.
The West Virginia senator is also emerging at a crucial point in the battle to pass Biden’s $ 1.9 trillion Covid relief bill, which all Republicans are likely to oppose. He said on Monday that he would try to amend the legislation to set a federal hourly minimum wage at $ 11 in two years, instead of the current Democratic proposal to raise it to $ 15 in five years.
After Manchin released Tanden, and after a series of Republicans – including Sens. Mitt Romney of Utah, Susan Collins of Maine and Rob Portman of Ohio – followed suit, their prospect of confirmation became dire, despite the White House insisting it was close to choice on Monday.
“They are going to have to withdraw it,” a senior Democratic senator told CNN Manu Raju. Tanden’s dim hopes on Monday probably depended on Murkowski, who has yet to say how he will vote.
The Alaskan Republican is an independent voice – and she voted to condemn Trump in his second impeachment trial. But it is difficult to see how she would have an incentive to rescue a Democratic Cabinet nominee already in trouble, especially with her own run for reelection approaching next year.
Proxy battle over climate change
Haaland’s nomination differs from the Tanden case, as the New Mexico House member is very popular with most Democrats. Her appointment is historic, as she would be the first Native American member of the cabinet. She would also lead the Department of the Interior, an agency with a long history of discrimination against its community.
Democrats and White House officials told CNN on Monday that they expect a few tense hours when Haaland appears on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Tuesday.
And guess who could be the Senate’s key voice on the panel and across the Senate on Haaland’s prospects? Manchin again, who chairs the committee and has yet to commit to supporting his nomination.
“We are very open to hearing it and we hope it will have a good audience,” said Manchin, a longtime supporter of the fossil fuel industries in his home state, on Monday.
Haaland is at risk of becoming the focal point of Republican attacks on Biden’s new commitment to the United States in the fight against global warming – which prompted him to return quickly to the Paris climate deal after taking office.
In the past, Haaland has opposed issuing new oil and gas drilling leases on federal land and has expressed support for the ban on fracking, a method of extracting natural gas. She also supported the Green New Deal, the ambitious climate plan promoted by Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York – although not the Biden government.
The Green New Deal has been the target of Republican attacks, claiming that its restrictions on fossil fuels would destroy the US economy. Tuesday’s hearing is likely to become a preview of the bitter party battles that are likely to occur when Biden sends a climate bill to the Capitol.
An audience – at last
Not all of Biden’s nominees had problems on Monday.
Ironically, the reputation for moderation and firm temper that Obama thought could facilitate Garland’s path through the Republican-led Senate to the upper court helped him on Monday at his confirmation hearing.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, an Arch-Trump supporter, said on Monday that he “probably” would support the nomination.