Joe Biden's Indian-American nominee to lead budget faces challenge to her confirmation
Washington: Indian-American Neera Tanden, US President Joe Biden's nominee for the position of Director of White House Office of Management and Budget, is facing a challenge to her confirmation after Democratic Senator Joe Manchin announced that he would vote against her over "overtly partisan statements".
Manchin's announcement means that unless a Republican senator comes forward to support her nomination, it is unlikely that Tanden, 50, will be confirmed for the job.
Manchin, a moderate Democrat from West Virginia, said: "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."
"For this reason, I cannot support her nomination. As I have said before, we must take meaningful steps to end the political division and dysfunction that pervades our politics," he said.
The 100-member Senate is evenly split between the Republicans and the Democrats. The vote of Vice-President Kamala Harris will tilt the balance in favour of the Democrats. As such the vote of Manchin gains significance, given that a majority of the Republicans are likely to oppose the nomination of Tanden.
In the past, Tanden has referred to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell as "Voldemort," and has battled Senator Bernie Sanders and his supporters online.
President Biden on Friday said that he has enough votes to get her confirmation.
I think we are going to find the votes and get her confirmed, Biden told reporters at Joint Base Andrews following a trip to the Pfizer vaccine manufacturing plant in Michigan.
Despite Manchin's opposition, Biden said he will not pull the nomination.
No he told reporters.
Neera Tanden is an accomplished policy expert who would be an excellent Budget Director and we look forward to the committee votes next week and to continuing to work toward her confirmation through engagement with both parties," White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said.
Tanden apologised to senators during her confirmation hearings this month. I deeply regret and apologise for my language, and some of my past language, she said.
Tanden reportedly deleted more than 1,000 tweets before her confirmation process started.
According to The New York Times, the announcement by Manchin underscored the fragility of the ambitions of the new Democratic majority in the Senate and the outsize power that any one senator holds over the success of Biden's administration and agenda.
The fate of the nomination is now in the hands of a party that Ms Tanden has frequently criticized in the past, particularly moderate Republicans she has previously scorned. Ms Tanden would need the support of at least one Republican senator in order to be confirmed, with the vote of Vice President Kamala Harris needed to break a tie, the daily said.
If she fails to garner enough support, Tanden would be the first Biden administration pick not to win Senate confirmation. No Republicans have said they would vote for her yet.
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Cong takes swipe at PM over India not being part of US-led 'Pax Silica' grouping
New Delh (PTI) The Congress on Saturday said it is perhaps not very surprising that India is not part of a US-led strategic initiative to build a secure silicon supply chain, given the "sharp downturn" in the Trump-Modi ties, and asserted that it would have been to "our advantage if we had been part of this group".
Congress general secretary in charge of communications Jairam Ramesh took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the news of India not being part of the group comes after the PM had enthusiastically posted on social media about a telephone call with his "once-upon-a-time good friend and a recipient of many hugs in Ahmedabad, Houston, and Washington DC".
In a lengthy post on X, Ramesh said, "According to some news reports, the US has excluded India from a nine-nation initiative it has launched to reduce Chinese control on high-tech supply chains. The agreement is called Pax Silica, clearly as a counter to Pax Sinica. The nations included (for the moment at least) are the US, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Australia."
"Given the sharp downturn in the Trump-Modi ties since May 10th, 2025, it is perhaps not very surprising that India has not been included. Undoubtedly, it would have been to our advantage if we had been part of this group."
"This news comes a day after the PM had enthusiastically posted on his telephone call with his once-upon-a-time good friend and a recipient of many hugs in Ahmedabad, Houston, and Washington DC," the Congress leader asserted.
The new US-led strategic initiative, rooted in deep cooperation with trusted allies, has been launched to build a secure and innovation-driven silicon supply chain.
According to the US State Department, the initiative called 'Pax Silica' aims to reduce coercive dependencies, protect the materials and capabilities foundational to artificial intelligence (AI), and ensure aligned nations can develop and deploy transformative technologies at scale.
The initiative includes Japan, South Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Australia. With the exception of India, all other QUAD countries -- Japan, Australia and the US -- are part of the new initiative.
New Delhi will host the India-AI Impact Summit 2026 on February 19-20, focusing on the principles of 'People, Planet, and Progress'. The summit, announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the France AI Action Summit, will be the first-ever global AI summit hosted in the Global South.
Prime Minister Modi and US President Trump on Thursday discussed ways to sustain momentum in the bilateral economic partnership in a phone conversation amid signs of the two sides inching closer to firming up a much-awaited trade deal.
The phone call between the two leaders came on a day Indian and American negotiators concluded two-day talks on the proposed bilateral trade agreement that is expected to provide relief to India from the Trump administration's whopping 50 per cent tariffs on Indian goods.
In a social media post, Modi had described the conversation as "warm and engaging".
"We reviewed the progress in our bilateral relations and discussed regional and international developments. India and the US will continue to work together for global peace, stability and prosperity," Modi had said without making any reference to trade ties.
