In a statement, President Joe Biden said that Tanden requested that his name be withdrawn from consideration.
“I accepted Neera Tanden’s request to remove his name from the nomination for Director of the Office of Management and Budget,” said Biden in a statement. “I have the utmost respect for her record of achievements, her experience and her advice, and I look forward to having her playing a role in my administration. She will bring a valuable perspective and insight to our work.”
In a letter to Biden, Tanden said it was the “honor of a lifetime” to be considered for the role.
“I appreciate how hard you and your team at the White House have worked to gain my confirmation. Unfortunately, it now seems clear that there is no way to get confirmation, and I don’t want continued consideration of my nomination to be a distraction from your other priorities, “wrote Tanden.
Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine and Mitt Romney of Utah said in recent weeks that they would oppose his confirmation, pointing to Tanden’s earlier criticism of lawmakers on social media.
Without Manchin’s support, Tanden would need a Republican senator to vote in favor, and Collins was seen as a potential “yes” vote. Democrats hold a narrow majority in a 50-50 Senate, with Vice President Kamala Harris being able to vote for the tiebreaker in the House.
Tanden apologized and regretted his earlier tweets during Senate confirmation hearings last month.
She appeared on the Senate Homeland Security Committee and apologized for some of the criticisms she previously directed at Republicans in Congress and expressed regret for previous tweets. Later, Tanden faced senators on the Budget Committee, including Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, an independent who joins Democrats, who said some of his previous comments were “cruel attacks on progressives”.
In the days after the election, Tanden also deleted more than 1,000 tweets from his personal account, some of which were reviewed by CNN’s KFile.
Tanden would have led an important economic position that would oversee the production of the president’s proposed budget for his agenda if it had been confirmed.
The White House remained firmly supporting Tanden for the role. Biden said he did not intend to withdraw Tanden’s nomination and that he believed they would get votes for it to be confirmed. Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer said on Sunday that he was working with Biden to gather the support needed to confirm Tanden.
After Manchin and Collins spoke out against Tanden’s nomination, White House press secretary Jen Psaki released a statement in support of Tanden.
“Neera Tanden = experienced policy expert, would be the first Asian American woman to lead the OMB, had the experience of benefiting from a series of federal programs as a child, looking at the committee’s vote this week and continuing to work to your confirmation, “Psaki said in a tweet.
This is a last-minute story and will be updated.