Neera Tanden

Neera Tanden (born September 10, 1970) is an American political consultant and government official. She is currently serving as a senior advisor to President Joe Biden. She is the president of the Center for American Progress, a liberal advocacy organization where she has worked in different capacities since its founding in 2003.

In November 2020, then President-elect Joe Biden announced he would nominate Tanden as Office of Management and Budget (OMB) director. Tanden asked for the nomination to be withdrawn after Senator Joe Manchin announced that he would not vote in favor of confirmation. In May 2021, Tanden was appointed as a senior advisor to the president.

On November 30, 2020, President-elect Joe Biden introduced Tanden as his nominee for Director of the Office of Management and Budget. Immediately afterwards, Tanden deleted over 1,000 of her previous tweets, and changed her Twitter bio from "progressive" to "liberal". During the confirmation hearing, Tanden apologized for several of her tweets attacking Republican senators, including tweets calling Susan Collins "the worst", comparing Ted Cruz to vampires, and using the nickname "Moscow Mitch" for Mitch McConnell and comparing him to Lord Voldemort. Senator John Cornyn described Tanden as "radioactive" in contrast to other Biden nominees he felt were more acceptable. Senator John Kennedy stated that she "called Senator Sanders everything but an ignorant slut", a reference to a 1970s Saturday Night Live catch phrase. NPR described her as "Biden's most controversial Cabinet pick".

On March 2, 2021, in response to a request from Tanden, the Biden administration withdrew Tanden's nomination to head the Office of Management and Budget. The White House also made public Tanden's explanation, which read in part, "Unfortunately, it now seems clear that there is no path forward to gain confirmation, and I do not want continued consideration of my nomination to be a distraction from your other priorities." President Biden said he had the “utmost respect” for Tanden and pledged he would find a role for her somewhere in his administration. On March 25, 2021, her nomination was officially withdrawn.