(CNN) – The duels over the affirmation of Joe Biden’s elected cabinet have suddenly turned ugly, raising the alarm about the exciting nature of a 50-50 bound Senate and bitter fighting to achieve the president’s ambitious agenda.
Growing intrigues over a trio of controversial presidential elections also underscore the power of individual senators such as Democrat Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Republican Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, when the party balance is so divided.
While Biden has seen his top national security picks, such as Antony Blinken installed as Secretary of State and Lloyd Austin at the Pentagon, the focus on nominees whose portfolios touches on some of the most sensitive national political issues is leading the process of confirmation to a controversial crescendo. .
The appointment of Neera Tanden, who has been selected by Biden to lead the Office of Management and Budget, is in serious jeopardy after Manchin disembarked and a number of Republicans said they could not support her.
Another painful hearing looms Tuesday for Secretary of State candidate Deb Haaland, whose opposition to fossil fuels is causing members of the Republican Party to call her extreme, in a showdown that could prove uncomfortable for moderate Democrats as well.
And Xavier Becerra, chosen by the president as head of the Department of Health and Human Services, has emerged as a lightning rod for cultural warfare because of his stance on abortion and Obamacare, an eternal dividing line between Republicans and Democrats.
It is not uncommon for new presidents to have problems with some nominees, or even see multiple potential cabinet members drop. Blocking a squad is an easy way for senators to wield their power and signal to a new White House that it cannot take them for granted. And the political clashes that cloud hopes for confirmation from nominees like Haaland and Tanden are quite predictable and reflect the rifts between the parties.
But when a president has a reasonable majority in the Senate, confirmations become easier. For example, if Democrats had a handful of seats to spare, a senator like Manchin, who constantly has to judge the winds in his ultra-conservative state of West Virginia, would get a pass.
But when nominations depend on the party line vote and a second round from Vice President Kamala Harris, Democratic leaders cannot provide any political cover, at least without some apostasy from the Republican ranks.
For now, the issue concerns individual cabinet nominees, whose defeat would harm Biden and damage the body of his ruling machine. But in the coming months, when it comes to radical and electorally radioactive issues such as climate change and immigration, his entire presidency is at stake.
While the situation is now tense, it is not unreasonable that illness, disability, or even the death of older senators could erase their ruling majority forever.
LOOK: Biden’s internal and external challenges to Congress to push through its immigration reform, analyst said
A nomination on the edge
Teeth’s struggle is characteristic of nominees who have problems arising from their own political vulnerabilities, but who are also victims of wider political forces beyond their individual destinies.
Still, Tanden, the chairman of the liberal think-tank Center for American Progress, is in the somewhat unique position of seeing its support fight right and left, a scenario that led some observers to be surprised when it was nominated.
Republican senators claim they are offended by some of her now-deleted tweets criticizing the Republican Party and individual senators she must now vote for her. Of course, it’s a bit of an exaggeration for Republicans to complain about someone’s tweets after spending four years empowering a president whose social media vitriol left Teeth in the Mud. And then there’s the question of whether Tanden, a prominent female political figure born of Indian immigrant parents, is the victim of damaging double standards.
Yet hypocrisy is the fat that often turns the wheels in the Senate. And Tanden has lukewarm support on his own side too. She was forced to reconcile with Senator Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent who is part of the Democrats, who now chairs the budget committee and would be her primary liaison. Sanders supporters accused Tanden of being one of the Democratic elites who think they stacked the party’s nominative race against him and in favor of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2016. During his confirmation hearing, Tanden had to apologize for what Sanders said. He complained they were “vile” attacks on progressives.
Given her always-dubious outlook, there wasn’t much of a reason for a senator like Manchin to support her. The West Virginia Senate has backed the president’s nominees who have received full votes to date. And he voted to condemn former President Donald Trump during his removal from the Senate, in which was an ugly decision given that his home state overwhelmingly supports the former president.
So in order to protect his brand as a relatively independent voice and to avoid being labeled a rubber stamp to Biden, Manchin probably had to take a stand somewhere. He explained that he couldn’t support Tanden because he represented the kind of divisive politics that Biden wants to purge from Washington.
“I don’t know her, probably a very, very good person, but actually a little toxic at the moment,” Manchin told reporters Monday at Capitol Hill.
The West Virginia senator is also emerging at a pivotal point in the battle to pass Biden’s $ 1.9 trillion covid-aid bill, which all Republicans are likely to oppose. He said on Monday he would try to change the legislation to set a federal minimum wage at $ 11 for two years, instead of the current Democratic proposal for an increase to $ 15 for five years.
Once Manchin broke with Teeth, and after a string of Republicans including Senators Mitt Romney of Utah, Susan Collins of Maine, and Rob Portman of Ohio followed suit, his prospects for confirmation became truly dire, despite the White House insisting that he was there. the national team on Monday.
“They will have to get her out,” a senior Democratic senator told CNN’s Manu Raju. Tanden’s low expectations were likely pinned to Murkowski Monday night, who has yet to say how he will vote.
The Alaska Republican is an independent voice and voted to condemn Trump during his second impeachment trial. But it’s hard to see how he would be incentivized to save an already deeply contested Democratic cabinet candidate, especially with his own reelection race next year.
LEE: Third Economic Incentive Check: What’s Included in the House Democrats’ Relief Plan
Power struggle over climate change
Haaland’s nomination differs from the Tanden case, as the New Mexico House member is very popular with most Democrats. Her nomination is historic because she would be the first member of the Native American cabinet. He would also head the Interior Ministry, an agency with a long history of discriminating against his community.
Democrats and White House officials told CNN on Monday that they expect a tense few hours when Haaland appears before the Energy and Natural Resources Commission on Tuesday.
And guess who is the main voice of the Senate in the Senate panel and plenary on Haaland’s prospects? Manchin, who chairs the committee and has not yet committed to support his nomination.
“We are very open to hearing it, and we hope it has a good audience,” Manchin, a supporter of the fossil fuel industry in his home state, said Monday.
Haaland is likely to become the focal point of Republican attacks on Biden’s newfound commitment to America’s fight against global warming, prompting him to join the Paris climate accord quickly after taking office.
In the past, Haaland has opposed the issuance of new oil and gas drilling on federal land and has expressed support for a ban on fracking, a method of extracting natural gas. He also supported the New Green Deal, the ambitious climate plan promoted by the Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, but not by the Biden administration.
The New Green Deal has been the target of Republican attacks because the restrictions on fossil fuels would destroy the US economy. Tuesday’s hearing is likely to be a taste of the bitter partisan struggle likely to unfold when Biden sends an environmental bill to Capitol Hill.
LOOK“It’s a shame that climate change has been so politicized in the US,” says New York Times columnist
An audience … finally
Not all of Biden’s nominees ran into problems on Monday.
The selection that has waited the longest for a confirmation hearing – nearly five years to be precise – is Attorney General’s nominee, Merrick Garland. The former president of the Washington Circuit Court of Appeals was nominated as a Supreme Court Judge by President Barack Obama, but was blocked for months by then Senate Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, in a power play that paved the way for the current Conservative majority at the court.
Ironically, the reputation for restraint and steadfast temper, which Obama thought could ease Garland’s path through a Republican-led senate to a higher court, helped him at his hearing on Monday.
Arch-disruptive Republican Senator Lindsey Graham from South Carolina said on Monday that he “very likely” would back the nomination.