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Sen. Collins to vote against Biden’s OMB nominee

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Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) will not be supporting President Joe Biden’s nominee, Neera Tanden, to lead the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), according to a statement released on Monday.

“The Director of OMB is responsible for overseeing the development and implementation of the federal budget and plays a significant role in any Administration’s fiscal and regulatory agenda,” Collins said Monday. “Congress has to be able to trust the OMB director to make countless decisions in an impartial manner, carrying out the letter of the law and congressional intent.”

“Neera Tanden has neither the experience nor the temperament to lead this critical agency. Her past actions have demonstrated exactly the kind of animosity that President Biden has pledged to transcend,” Collins added.

The senator also said Tanden’s “decision to delete more than a thousand tweets in the days before her nomination was announced raises concerns about her commitment to transparency.”

The aforementioned tweets were demeaning of Republicans and Senator Bernie Sanders, D-VT. For example, she once called Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell “Voldemort.” At the time of the tweets, Tanden held a position with The Center for American Progress.

Earlier this month Tanden told the Senate Budget Committee that if confirmed she wouldn’t take such stances as those of her past tweets. “And I would say social media does lead to too many personal comments, and my approach will be radically different,” she said in response to Sen. Sanders’s question regarding her tweets.

“Should Congress need to review documents or actions taken by OMB, we must have confidence that the Director will be forthcoming,” she said.

“The OMB needs steady, experienced, responsive leadership. I will vote against confirming Ms. Tanden.”

Last week, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va) also said that he would oppose Tanden’s nomination to head the White House budget office.

“I believe her overtly partisan statements will have a toxic and detrimental impact on the important working relationship between members of Congress and the next director of the Office of Management and Budget,” Manchin said in a statement. “For this reason, I cannot support her nomination.”

The Senate is divided 50-50 between the parties. With Manchin and Collins’s opposition, Democrats will need at least one GOP vote to confirm her on the Senate floor. Democrats would only have 49 votes for Tanden if all Republican senators and Manchin oppose her.

Biden has said he does not intend to pull Tanden’s nomination and that he believes she will be confirmed. “I think we are going to find the votes to get her confirmed,” Biden said Friday.

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Analysis: Biden unlikely to sanction Iran’s oil exports, gas prices ‘critical during an election year’

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Analysts say President Joe Biden is unlikely to “prompt dramatic sanctions action on Iran’s oil exports” due to “worries about boosting oil prices and angering top buyer China” according to Reuters.

Speaking to Fox News on Sunday, House Republican Representative Steve Scalise, said the administration had made it easier for Iran to sell its oil, generating revenues that were being used to “go fund terrorist activity.”

The Biden administration has maintained for months that among its primary goals is to keep the Gaza conflict between terror group Hamas and Israel from turning into a wider regional war. However, House Republican leaders accused President Joe Biden of failing to enforce existing measures and said they would take up this week a series of bills to sharpen sanctions on Iran.

Kimberly Donovan, a sanctions and anti-money laundering expert at the Atlantic Council, said that oil-related sanctions have not been strictly enforced in the past couple of years.

“I would not expect the administration to tighten enforcement in response to Iran’s missile and drone attacks against Israel over the weekend, mainly for concerns (that) could lead to increases in oil prices,” she said.

“The price of oil and ultimately the prices of gas at the pump become critical during an election year.”
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