Topline
White House senior advisor and staff secretary Neera Tanden will take over as President Joe Biden’s domestic policy advisor, replacing longtime advisor Susan Rice, Biden announced Friday, though Tanden has previously sparked controversy over disparaging comments about GOP lawmakers.
President Joe Biden announced Neera Tanden will take over as his domestic policy advisor.
Key Facts
Tanden, who previously served as head of the Washington think-tank Center for American Progress and had been an aide to former Sen. Hillary Clinton, will take over for Rice later this month while longtime Biden aide Stefanie Feldman will replace Tanden as staff secretary, Biden announced (Rice’s last day is May 26, NBC News reported).
The announcement comes just over two years after Tanden withdrew her bid for the White House Office of Management and Budget, after she came under fire for a series of previous social media posts seen by critics as polarizing, writing in a letter to Biden at the time: “Unfortunately, it now seems clear that there is no path forward to gain confirmation.”
In a series of tweets over several years, Tanden compared Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to Harry Potter villain Voldemort, called Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) “the worst,” and said vampires have “more heart” than Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.
Tanden said she deleted more than 1,000 tweets in November 2020, saying she regretted her “tone” against Republicans, adding she “deeply” regretted her past language.
At the time, however, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) slammed Tanden as “radioactive,” calling it a “misstep by the administration” to nominate her for the Office of Management and Budget, while Collins argued Tanden “has neither the experience nor the temperament to lead this critical agency.”
Tangent
The announcement comes just over a week after Biden announced longtime Democratic advisor Rice would leave the administration after serving as domestic policy advisor since Biden took office in January 2021. Rice, a former Obama Administration national security advisor and ambassador to the United Nations during Biden’s time as vice president, thanked Biden for “trusting and empowering her” in a tweet confirming her resignation late last month. In a statement, Biden credited Rice with initiatives to strengthen the Affordable Care Act and his plan to relieve student debt, though that plan has been challenged by GOP-led states. Rice was also instrumental in Biden’s reversal of a controversial Covid-era border policy called Title 42, which allows federal agents to turn away migrants, though Republicans have heavily criticized the Biden Administration for the decision, arguing the administration is creating chaos at the U.S.-Mexico border. The policy is set to expire on May 11.
Key Background
In 2000, Tanden worked as former first lady Hillary Clinton’s deputy campaign manager in her New York Senate campaign, and later served as Clinton’s legislative director and as her policy director in her unsuccessful 2008 presidential campaign. She later joined the Biden Administration as a senior advisor in the Department of Health and Human Services, before becoming the president and CEO of the Center for American Progress in 2011, a role she held until 2021, when she joined the Biden Administration.
Further Reading
Susan Rice Leaves Role As Biden’s Domestic Policy Advisor (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianbushard/2023/05/05/who-is-neera-tanden-bidens-new-domestic-policy-advisor-heres-why-shes-a-controversial-pick/