Joe Biden has nominated two women to the top Administration economic posts. If approved by the Senate, former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen will be the new Treasury Secretary. For director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, Biden has nominated Neera Tanden. If confirmed, both will be the first women to occupy those key posts.
Treasury Secretary nominee Janet Yellen is well qualified. She held the Federal Reserve Director post from 2014 to 2018. She was Chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisors under Bill Clinton from 1997 to 1999 and President of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco from 2004 to 2010.
Yellen is remembered for her parting shot to the scandal-ridden Wells Fargo bank. She punished the bank for “widespread consumer abuses” with unprecedented restrictions on growth, a cap of financial assets, and removing three people from its board of directors.
The new Treasury Secretary will have at least one Senate mentor. Wall Street foe Elizabeth Warren praised Yellen’s action: “Chair Yellen’s decision to freeze the growth of Wells Fargo until it shapes up…demonstrates we have the tools to rein in Wall Street—if our regulators have the guts to use them.”
On the other hand, the nominee for the Office of Management and Budget had the opposite effect on progressives like Bernie Sanders. They are fuming over Neera Tanden’s nomination.
Sanders’ former press secretary put it this way: “Everything toxic about the corporate Democratic Party is embodied in Neera Tanden.” (At this writing, Senator Sanders hasn’t commented.)
Tanden, who would head the OMB and oversee production of the federal budget, is a close ally and personal friend of Hillary Clinton. After Clinton’s successful campaign for the Senate, she was Hillary’s legislative director from 2003 to 2005. She was a key policy and legislative advisor in Clinton’s failed efforts to become president and held several advisory jobs in the Obama administration.
In October 2011 Tanden succeeded John Podesta as the president and CEO of the Center for American Progress, a left-leaning Washington think tank.
Tanden has the reputation as one of the more liberal members of the Clinton clique. Much of her work relates to healthcare policy in the US. She was an Obama administration cheerleader and advocate of the Affordable Care Act, having parted ways with Bernie Sanders by opposing single-payer healthcare and Medicare for All.
Tanden also has friends in the Senate, including Elizabeth Warren and others, who praised Biden for picking Tanden.
“Such a great choice to lead OMB,” Rep. Barbara Lee tweeted Monday. “Neera Tanden will bring the experience and humanity urgently needed in this position. Congratulations!”
Both nominees must endure a Senate committee grilling. Janet Yellen will probably be an easy pass no matter who controls the Senate after the Georgia run-off election produces either a 50-50 tie or a Republican majority.
Neera Tanden, on the other hand, has made enemies. She is not well-qualified technically, and if the Republicans control the Senate, she could be in for a bruising (and possibly losing) battle.
