Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) announced on Friday that he would vote against Neera Tanden to head the Office of Management and Budget, increasing the possibility that she cannot be confirmed for the influential position. 

JEFF COHEN, jeff@rootsaction.org, @Roots_Action
    Co-founder of RootsAction.org and its policy adviser, Cohen said today: “For decades, Democratic Party leaders and top advisers have wallowed in donations from the super-rich while moving the party toward policies that have shifted wealth and income from working-class people to elites. Consummate fundraiser Neera Tanden is a prime symbol of corporatism within a party that once fought for working-class interests, and that’s why RootsAction has opposed her OMB nomination since it was announced in December. We call on the Biden administration to nominate someone who will put the public interest ahead of corporate interests when it comes to overseeing federal budgetary and regulatory policies.”

The group’s action alert reads in part: “In recent years, Tanden has become known as one of the loudest voices of the neoliberal establishment. … Her coziness with corporate elites raises questions about her potential role in the regulatory process. As the Washington Post recently reported, she has ‘mingled with deep-pocketed donors who made their fortunes on Wall Street, in Silicon Valley and in other powerful sectors of corporate America.’ And, ‘at formal pitches and swanky fundraisers, Tanden personally cultivated the bevy of benefactors fueling the $45 million to $50 million annual budget’ of her think tank, the Center for American Progress.”

See Washington Post piece from Dec. 5: “Neera Tanden, Biden’s Pick for Budget Chief, Runs a Think Tank Backed by Corporate and Foreign Interests.”