Joe Biden has been handed his first major defeat in the U.S. Senate.
Breitbart reports:
President Joe Biden faces his first major defeat in the Senate as his nominee to lead the Office of Management and Budget Neera Tanden meets Democrat opposition.
Sen. Joe Manchin, (D-WV) announced Friday afternoon that he would oppose Tanden’s confirmation.
“I believe her overtly partisan statements will have a toxic and detrimental impact on the important working relationship between members of Congress and the next director of the Office of Management and Budget,” he said in a statement.
Joe Manchin is an interesting case. As a moderate Democrat (one of the last ones, along with Tulsi Gabbard), he’s in a unique position to keep the radical left in check.
That’s going to come into play on several major issues, including packing the Supreme Court, Puerto Rico statehood, and eliminating the filibuster. It must grind gears on the left that Manchin is siding with Republicans here.
Breitbart notes:
Tanden’s history of activism and social media vitriol against Republicans and even leftist Democrats has won her few friends in the Senate, despite an attempt to apologize for her past statements. She even panned Biden in 2015 when she was pushing for failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton to win the Democrat primary for 2015.
This is the first sign that Manchin is willing to assert his independence from the Biden administration, rather than serve as a rubber stamp of approval.
It also shows that Biden cannot afford to lose one Senate Democrat on his massive $1.9 trillion spending package he plans to pass with a simple majority using budget reconciliation.
Manchin’s willingness to buck Biden on his nominee suggests that he and other Senate Democrats may use their power to dramatically alter Biden’s plan to push through as quickly as politically possible.
This is a very good sign as we go into 2021.