Cornyn spokesperson: Neera Tanden has ‘no chance’ of being confirmed as Biden’s OMB pick

A spokesperson for Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said Sunday that President-elect Joe Biden’s reported pick to head the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has “no chance” of being confirmed by the Senate should Republicans remain in control next year.

In a tweet, Cornyn spokesman Drew Brandewie said that Center for American Progress head Neera Tanden’s past history of “disparaging comments about the Republican Senators’ whose votes she’ll need” made her confirmation highly unlikely. Tanden would need 51 votes in the Senate to become head of the OMB; Democrats currently control 48 seats in the Senate, though they are hoping to pick up two more in Georgia as the state’s Senate elections head to runoffs in January.

Neera Tanden, who has an endless stream of disparaging comments about the Republican Senators’ whose votes she’ll need, stands zero chance of being confirmed. https://t.co/f6Ewi6OMQR

— Drew Brandewie (@DBrandewie) November 30, 2020

The statement from Brandewie is a departure from his boss’s remarks earlier this month. Cornyn said that Biden’s win over President Trump in the 2020 election would not be assured until all states have certified their votes. Trump has refused to concede the election and has launched a host of legal challenges seeking to overturn results in various states that have yet to see any measure of success.

“He is not president-elect until the votes are certified. So the answer to that is no,” Cornyn said, according to The Dallas Morning News. “And I don’t know what basis you or anybody else would claim that he’s president-elect before the votes are certified and these contests are resolved.”

The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday that Tanden would be Biden’s pick to lead the OMB. She has led the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank, since 2010. During the 2016 election, Tanden was a top ally of the Democratic Party’s then-nominee, Hillary Clinton, and was seen at the time as a likely candidate for a White House role.

Representatives for Biden’s transition team did not immediately return a request for comment from The Hill.

–Updated on Nov. 30 at 5:30 a.m.