{"id":115920,"date":"2021-03-03T13:24:52","date_gmt":"2021-03-03T05:24:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=115920"},"modified":"2021-03-03T13:24:54","modified_gmt":"2021-03-03T05:24:54","slug":"us-pres-biden-suffers-first-cabinet-defeat-signals-senate-hazards-ahead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=115920","title":{"rendered":"US: Pres Biden suffers first cabinet defeat; signals Senate hazards ahead"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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WASHINGTON, March 3 (NNN-AGENCIES) — US President Joe Biden suffered his first cabinet defeat Tuesday as he pulled an ill-fated nomination, the clearest signal yet that immensely powerful moderates in the deadlocked Senate can imperil his administration\u2019s ambitious agenda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biden was forced to abandon his push to make Neera Tanden the White House budget director after centrists on both sides of the political aisle made it clear they would not support her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The opposition centered around several of Tanden\u2019s previous tweets in which she disparaged lawmakers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have accepted Neera Tanden\u2019s request to withdraw her name from nomination for Director of the Office of Management and Budget,\u201d Biden said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have the utmost respect for her record of accomplishment, her experience and her counsel, and I look forward to having her serve in a role in my administration.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 50-year-old Tanden, who heads a progressive think tank, wrote the president to say she was withdrawing because she did not want debate over her nomination to be \u201ca distraction from your other priorities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several other Biden picks have made it into their posts with bipartisan support, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two more nominees were confirmed Tuesday: Council of Economic Advisors chair Cecilia Rouse, the first Black person to serve in the position, and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the Tanden setback comes amid growing recognition that substantial political power now rests in the hands of moderates, and one in particular: Senate Democrat Joe Manchin, who opposed Tanden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Top Republican Mitch McConnell and his Democratic opposite Chuck Schumer have long been seen as the Senate\u2019s critical powerbrokers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But with the chamber deadlocked 50-50, and Vice President Kamala Harris wielding the tie-breaking vote, the spotlight has shifted to rank-and-file Democrats closest to the center who can suddenly make or break Biden\u2019s day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chief among them is 73-year-old Manchin of West Virginia, who announced last week that he would not support Tanden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Short a vote, the White House courted Republicans including moderates Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins. With none riding to Tanden\u2019s rescue, the nomination collapsed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joining Manchin in the spotlight is another moderate Democrat, Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona. — NNN-AGENCIES<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON, March 3 (NNN-AGENCIES) — US President Joe Biden suffered his first cabinet defeat Tuesday as he pulled an ill-fated nomination, the clearest signal yet that immensely powerful moderates in the deadlocked Senate can imperil his administration\u2019s ambitious agenda. Biden was forced to abandon his push to make Neera Tanden the White House budget director […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":115921,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[208],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115920"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=115920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115920\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/115921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=115920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=115920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=115920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}