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The Director of the White House Office of Management and Budget is highly influential, especially since he is responsible for setting the president’s budget and evaluating the projects and expenditures of his ministers.
US President Joe Biden announced Tuesday the withdrawal of Nira Tandin’s candidacy to head the White House Office of Management and Budget, while the Senate Intelligence Committee approved his candidate for the post of director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
Biden withdrew the candidacy of Tandin after the resounding refusal of prominent legislators to confirm her in this position, in the first defeat of the Democratic president in the Senate.
“I have accepted Nira Tandin’s request to withdraw her candidacy for the post of director of the Office of Management and Budget,” Biden said in a statement.
This decline came after several moderate Republican legislators, as well as a Democratic senator, announced that they would vote against the confirmation of this woman, due to statements she made in the past that included violent criticism of several senators.
The director of the Office of Management and Budget of the White House has a wide influence, mainly because he is responsible for establishing the budget that the president wants and evaluating the projects and expenses of his ministers.
Since announcing his candidacy for office, Tandin has become the target of criticism from lawmakers from both parties, with Republicans saying they are outraged by his previously violent criticism of various senators, while progressives close to Senator Bernie Sanders they have considered it too moderate.
But the bullet of mercy on his candidacy was ultimately fired by Democratic Senator Joe Mansion of West Virginia, who said in late February, “I think your overly partisan remarks will have toxic and negative repercussions on the important working relationship between members. Congress and the next director of the Office of Management and Budget “. He added: “For this reason, I cannot support his appointment.”
The United States Senate has the power to approve or reject presidential nominations for key positions in government, and presidential nominations are confirmed by at least 51 votes.
Democrats in the Senate have a very small majority, as they share the House equally with Republicans (50-50), but Vice President Kamala Harris, who is constitutionally the Speaker of the House, can vote whenever she wants, which allows her, when necessary, to tip the balance in favor of her Democratic party.
This balance of power means that the defection of any Democratic member must be offset by another Republican vote. On Tuesday, the White House tried to persuade some Republican senators to vote for Tanden, but their attempt apparently failed.
According to the White House statement, Tandin wrote to Biden in the letter asking him to withdraw his candidacy: “I appreciate how hard you and your team work in the White House.”
“Unfortunately, it is now clear that my confirmation is not possible and I do not want consideration of my appointment to divert attention from your other priorities,” he added.
Burns CIA Leader Nomination Approved
Democratic Senator Mark Warner, chairman of the United States Senate Intelligence Committee, announced that the committee on Tuesday approved by consensus the nomination of President Joe Biden, veteran diplomat William Burns, to the post of Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. (INC).
“The overwhelmingly bipartisan vote in favor of (appointing) Ambassador Burns is testament to the candidate’s unquestionable qualifications for the position, his long experience in matters of national security and his commendable commitment to public work,” he said in a statement.
Warner expressed hope that the entire council would act to “confirm the appointment of Ambassador Burns without undue delay.”
Burns, a former ambassador to Russia and a former undersecretary of state, said in a session that confirmed his candidacy last month that competing with China and confronting its “hostile leadership that tends to dominate others” is important to the national security of the United States.
“After meeting with Ambassador Burns, I believe he understands the nature of the Chinese threat and the other threats facing our nation,” Senator Marco Rubio, the top Republican member of the Intelligence Committee, said in a statement.
Burns said during the session that if he were the president of an American college or university, he would recommend closing the Confucius Institutes, which are Chinese-funded university cultural centers that many members of Congress say are propaganda tools.
He added that other “familiar” threats facing the United States are those represented by Russia, North Korea and Iran, adding that climate change, global health problems and cyber threats pose great risks.
Among the Russia-related issues Burns and other intelligence agency heads are expected to address early in the Biden administration is the investigation of cyberattacks on the US government, private and local data networks.
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