The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is a critical department of any White House, tasked with implementing the President's vision through budget allocations and federal policy.
Subsequently, the OMB Director is a crucial role in any administration.
President Joe Biden has nominated Center for American Progress president Neera Tanden to take on the position, but Tanden has faced an uphill battle in pursuit of the Senate's confirmation.
Republican Senators have decried Tanden for her tweets about them during former President Donald Trump's tenure in the White House, calling Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) "the worst" and comparing Ted Cruz (R-TX) to vampires. Tanden has since apologized for the tweets.
After the 2016 election, Tanden—a staunch supporter of then-Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton—claimed Russia was responsible for Trump's victory and even claiming at one point that Russia directly manipulated votes. While Russia did launch a broad disinformation campaign aimed at benefitting Donald Trump, it is disputed whether this disinformation was the key factor in Trump's upset victory.
For these reasons, Republicans in the Senate continue to oppose Tanden's appointment to head OMB.
Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) gave some "friendly advice" to Biden in a Senate floor speech to withdraw the nomination, but the hypocrisy of his words sent some reeling.
Watch below.
Cornyn said:
"My friendly advice to President Biden is to withdraw Neera Tanden's nomination and select someone who, at the very least, has not promoted wild conspiracy theories & openly bashed people on both sides of the aisle that she happens to disagree with."
As President, Donald Trump frequently "promoted wild conspiracy theories," one of which—his deranged claims that Democrats worked with election software companies to switch Trump votes to Biden votes—led to a deadly insurrection on the United States Capitol.
Trump also repeatedly "bashed people on both sides of the aisle" with whom he happened to disagree. Career Republicans like the late Senator John McCain (R-AZ) and Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) became pariahs in the GOP after Trump lambasted them as "RINOs" (Republicans in Name Only) for opposing his policies.
Cornyn, a supporter of Trump, shrugged at the former President's delusions and rarely if ever directly opposed Trump.
People were quick to call out Cornyn's double standard.
The main word used to describe Cornyn's diatribe? "Shameless."
Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia is on the record opposing Tanden's nomination, meaning at least one Republican Senator and every other Senate Democrat will need to vote in favor before Tanden can begin work.
