President Joe Biden nominated Center for American Progress President Neera Tanden to head the Office of Management and Budget, the largest executive office charged with overseeing the implementation of Presidential policies across various federal entities and agencies.
On Tuesday, Tanden appeared at a confirmation hearing before the Senate Homeland Security Committee where she was grilled by Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) about her past tweets regarding Republican lawmakers.
In since-deleted tweets posted before her nomination, Tanden said that Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) was "the worst" and that Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) had less of a heart than vampires. She also referred to then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) as "Voldemort," the main antagonist in the Harry Potter series.
Portman pressed Tanden on how she could effectively oversee a government agency with tweets like these.
Watch below.
Tanden responded:
"I recognize the concern. I deeply regret and apologize for my language and some of my past language."
It's worth noting that Senate Republicans—including Portman—rallied around former President Donald Trump during his four years in office, even as he tweeted insults to everyone from comedians to world leaders. Trump called women "horsefaces" and "dogs." His tweets berating local election officials in Georgia resulted in death threats.
Trump's Twitter antics eventually got him banned from the platform altogether, but not before his years-long onslaught of erratic and combative tweets defined his legacy.
People found it rich that Portman was suddenly concerned about mean tweets.
What's more, many of Trump's critics agreed with the assertions in Tanden's tweets.
Tweets aside, Tanden is expected to be confirmed by the Senate.
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