Report: Biden Has Made His Pick to Fill a Long-Empty Role

Shalanda Young's nomination for director of Office of Management and Budget may come Wednesday
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 24, 2021 6:16 AM CST
Updated Nov 24, 2021 6:52 AM CST
Report: Biden to Give Acting Budget Chief a Permanent Nod
Shalanda Young arrives to testify at a Senate Budget Committee hearing on June 8, 2021, on Capitol Hill in Washington.   (Shawn Thew/Pool via AP)

Looks like Shalanda Young just got a promotion: The acting chief of the Office of Management and Budget will become the permanent one, with President Biden's nomination of her expected as soon as Wednesday, officials tell CNN. The Washington Post, which first reported on the development, notes that although Biden's previous pick for the role, Neera Tanden, was forced to withdraw from consideration earlier this year after coming under bipartisan fire from multiple senators, Young, who's served as the deputy budget director since the spring, received more than a dozen GOP yeas when she was confirmed to that position in a 63-37 vote.

Some allies have been scratching their heads as to what's taken so long to place Young, a well-regarded former congressional aide and longtime member of the House Appropriations Committee, in the top spot, which is one of the few high-level roles that's remained empty in the Biden administration. Among the factors cited by the Post are that Democrats have had trouble wrangling floor time for nomination approvals, as well as that certain Democratic lawmakers have been holding out for more nominees of Asian descent.

The New York Times notes that Young would ascend to the lead role "at a critical time" for the OMB, which is tasked with helping the administration carry out its economic agenda. At the top of that itinerary is implementing the recently passed $1 trillion infrastructure bill and the $1.9 trillion pandemic relief bill that passed in March, with fingers crossed on getting a $2 trillion social-spending plan also approved soon. (More Shalanda Young stories.)

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