Biden nominee Neera Tanden recalls past discrimination

Neera Tanden, President Biden’s nominee to head the Office of Management and Budget, recounted to NBC News discrimination she’s faced throughout her career as an Asian American woman.

“It was really frustrating,” said Tanden, who is undergoing a confirmation hearing this week. If confirmed, Tanden would become the first woman of color to lead the agency.

Tanden shared stories of criticism and doubt she’s dealt with over the years.

While serving as policy director on Hillary Clinton’s first presidential campaign, Tanden once led a meeting where others in the room turned to a junior counterpart, a young white male, for reassurance, she claimed.

“Someone actually checked in with him verbally and said, ‘Does that makes sense to you?'” Tanden told NBC News of the incident. 

“You know it’s just because it was not their perception that an Asian woman would be the leader of this meeting,” she added.

That wasn’t an isolated incident, she said. Among the many claims made against her, Tanden said she is often dubbed as “aggressive,” which she attributes to the current racial environment. In comparison to behavior she’s witnessed from her male counterparts, she doesn’t feel her actions warrant that label, she told NBC News.

“I think there are perceptions or stereotypes of Asian women as less strong or more meek. And perhaps seeing me, people have perceptions that I’m more aggressive than a man would be in this role,” she said. “I leave that to others, I would just say that, in my experience, I’ve worked for and been around a lot of male leaders who seem a lot more assertive than me.”

During her confirmation hearing, Tanden has faced her fair share of criticism over past comments she made on Twitter about political figures. 

“I’m very disturbed about your personal comments about people,” Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said while addressing the messages, which included comparisons of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) to a vampire and Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to “Harry Potter” villain Voldemort.

Tanden apologized for the comments, and said, “Over the last few years, it’s been part of my role to be an impassioned advocate. I understand, though, that the role of OMB director calls for bipartisan action, as well as a nonpartisan adherence to facts and evidence.”