Murkowski told reporters he had “follow-up questions” after the Capitol meeting, which she characterized as “a good conversation”.
“I’m still doing my assessment,” added Murkowski.
After his meeting with Tanden, Murkowski sat with Alaskan Republican Party Senator Dan Sullivan in the chamber and gave what appeared to be a debriefing to Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell and his leadership team.
Tanden’s nomination has been in trouble since Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia announced his opposition, saying his “openly partisan statements” against Republican senators and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders during his presidential campaigns “would have an impact. toxic and harmful “in the relationship between Congress and OMB. In a 50-50 Senate, any Democratic defection needs to be replaced by a Republican vote, and none so far have emerged. Democratic Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona has also not pledged to vote for the nominee for director of the OMB.
Murkowski also expressed concern about Tanden’s social media story.
Tanden apologized and regretted some of his tweets at confirmation hearings. In one, Ohio Republican Senator Rob Portman read Tanden’s insults to Republican senators aloud.
“Just to mention some of the thousands of negative public statements, you wrote that Susan Collins is ‘the worst’, that Tom Cotton is a fraud, that vampires have more heart than Ted Cruz,” said Portman. “You called leader McConnell ‘Moscow Mitch’ and Voldemort. And so on. I wonder specifically how you plan to fix fences and build relationships with members of Congress that you attacked through your public statements?”
Psaki added that the White House is “fighting” on Tanden’s behalf and refused to characterize the postponement of the committee’s vote as a “setback”.
White House chief of staff Ron Klain said that if Tanden is not confirmed, she will be nominated for another position that does not require consideration by the Senate.
Tanden was CEO and President of the Center for American Progress. Previously, she worked as a senior consultant in the United States Department of Health and Human Services during the Obama administration, with a focus on the Affordable Care Act, and as a policy director for Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign.
This story was updated with further developments on Monday.