Biden Cabinet Confirmation Live Thread ***hearings, votes, etc.***

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1359548398257455107

[brucejoel99]

So Bernie himself took the shot in the end. Glenn Greenwald in shambles:

https://twitter.com/kenvogel/status/1359547693551484928

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

So Bernie himself took the shot in the end. Glenn Greenwald in shambles:

https://twitter.com/kenvogel/status/1359547693551484928

So good to see “Mr. Sanders, Chairman”.

[brucejoel99]

It's certainly not the biggest deal in US politics right now, but I'll lose some respect for Sanders if he votes for her confirmation. No one who stoops to drunken bullying on social media belongs in Joe Biden's Cabinet and that alone would make the failure of her confirmation a worthy message to other Beltway types.

Of course, there's the flip-side of that argument: that - for whatever reason, in Biden's opinion - she's perhaps the best person for the job in spite of her past stupid behavior on Twitter. Certainly not an argument I'd personally subscribe to, but it could be made (& indeed, it's what I would've expected the White House & Democratic Senators to argue were her confirmation prospects actually in any serious jeopardy).

[Antonio the Sixth]

It's certainly not the biggest deal in US politics right now, but I'll lose some respect for Sanders if he votes for her confirmation. No one who stoops to drunken bullying on social media belongs in Joe Biden's Cabinet and that alone would make the failure of her confirmation a worthy message to other Beltway types.

I agree that ideally I'd like to see Bernie torpedo her nomination, but the reality of the current situation is that this would not be a good way for Bernie to leverage the political capital that he has accumulated. Voting against Tanden would immediately put him on a collision course with the Biden administration and seriously diminish his ability to coax them into going bigger and bolder with the economic policies that are needed to help the American working class. Politics often requires you to come to terms with deeply distasteful people, and while there are clear limits on what kind of behavior one should be willing to tolerate (such as, ahem, *gestures at the past 4 years*), I don't think Tanden is where I'd draw a hard line, as much as I personally despise her.

[Ferguson97]

Bernie also isn't terminally online so I doubt he's even aware Neera has Twitter drama lol. He probably just knows her as a progressive from a think tank.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Bernie also isn't terminally online so I doubt he's even aware Neera has Twitter drama lol. He probably just knows her as a progressive from a think tank.

This is not true. The clash (and, let's not mince words, the extent of Tanden's anti-Bernie hackery) runs deeper than mere Twitter feuds.

[free my dawg]

Neera Tanden is not Bruce Reed.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Bernie also isn't terminally online so I doubt he's even aware Neera has Twitter drama lol. He probably just knows her as a progressive from a think tank.

This is not true. The clash (and, let's not mince words, the extent of Tanden's anti-Bernie hackery) runs deeper than mere Twitter feuds.

This is part of what I find upsetting about her renewed prominence. There's a lot of awful behavior on Twitter  coming from people in proximity to real power, but unless they're Donald Trump or Elon Musk this passes largely unnoticed. It's not really news, but it's public enough that anyone with some knowledge of the relevant online social circles can follow the drama.

I understand the temptation of dismissing it as irrelevant, as Ferguson suggests, but we are a decade past the last year in which it made any sense to dismiss online behavior as if it happened in an alternate reality with no relevance to who we are in the material world. We're not talking about some wacky online persona, or a gruff personality that can't be bothered with trivial niceties: Tanden's outbursts and bullying deserve to be treated as a mark of character.

You're right about the political considerations, though, especially as the feud with Tanden is not just an intraparty one but to some extent intrafactional. I'm sure that some readers will want to argue the point, but she is one of Biden's leftier appointees and it's not likely that any Berniecrat would prefer Biden's second choice for OMB in policy terms.

Still... I can't get past the character issue, and the longer I follow politics the more importance I grant it. It's often not an easy quality to rate, but there are actions and patterns of behavior that betray when someone isn't worth trusting. (I'm certainly not perfect in my online behavior, but if we're ever to get ourselves out of our present mire, it will require that we learn how to treat each other decently over this medium.)

When one of the leftier nominees is an UAE operative who said that Libya needs to pay us back for our war there, we have a real problem.

[Roblox]

The Neera Tanden hearing in general was very awkward/funny, at least compared to the average hearing. Like, she didn’t remember Biden’s proposed corporate tax rate at one point lol.

[BudgieForce]

I'd be shocked if Bernie does vote against Tanden. Yeah, she personally sucks, but why sink her when her replacement won't be nearly as friendly to leftist policy?

[AndyHogan14]

Cardona just received a 17-5 vote in committee and Walsh 18-4. Both have now cleared committee.

The nays for Cardona were Paul, Braun, Marshall, Scott (SC), and Tuberville, The nays for Walsh were Paul, Braun, Scott (SC), and Moran.

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

I'd be shocked if Bernie does vote against Tanden. Yeah, she personally sucks, but why sink her when her replacement won't be nearly as friendly to leftist policy?

I'm undecided and obviously don't have the same information the Senate Democratic Caucus has as to the likeliest alternatives (Bruce Reed could be worse), but this looks like a bad gamble from my view in a way supporting other suboptimal nominees (e.g. Blinken) does not.

Competence and integrity matter and the beliefs she propounds count for little if they be abandoned under the slightest pressure. I could care less about the Twitter drama, but someone who takes bribes (and fails to hide them), busts unions and punches journalists is not the model of a capable Democratic Cabinet member. The wikileaks email in which she allegedly suggests the extortion of Libya could have been a tasteless joke but it looked like a deeply unserious idea proposed in a serious fashion - in other words, Trump-tier policy. Federal government is a tricky business and the last 4 years would suggest it's not well-suited to these.

At least she's a historic pick for representation. Many Cabinet members have failed upwards, but she must be the first to fail upwards through the glass ceiling.

[AndyHogan14]

Guzman's committee vote has been added to the schedule. With the impeachment vote likely coming over the weekend, it is my hope that we will start seeing full Senate votes next week and the rest of the cabinet in place in the coming weeks.

EDIT: Now that the impeachment trial is through, Schumer has filed cloture for Thomas-Greenfield and scheduled a vote (immediate consideration) for Vilsack.

[Bootes Void]

Neera Tanden is not Bruce Reed.

Why do people use lesser of two evils argument to defend her, just defend her by saying she knows the job and alot of the criticisms are childish in nature.

[Hammy]

[snip]

Thank you for posting this, I actually came here to ask if there was a simplified list of confirmations as I've lost track given all the other threads.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Neera Tanden is not Bruce Reed.

Why do people use lesser of two evils argument to defend her, just defend her by saying she knows the job and alot of the criticisms are childish in nature.

Except they aren't and there are hundreds of people across the country who "know the job". The idea is that she's some kind of irreplaceable policy genius is laughable.

She's going to go through, because Biden picked her, and there are strong norms in favor of letting the President choose their picks, especially within the President's party, but let's not pretend she's some stellar nominee who's absolutely needed for the job.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Can’t believe Neera Tanden is turning into some sort of a**hole genius Steve Jobs figure lmao.

[AndyHogan14]

[snip]

Thank you for posting this, I actually came here to ask if there was a simplified list of confirmations as I've lost track given all the other threads.

Happy to do it! I've actually been keeping track of it for my students because we just went through the unit concerning executive departments (we always end comparing the Washington administration to the current administration). Following this thread (and certain Twitter feeds) has made it so I can keep the list up-to-date for my class.

[GM Team Member and Senator WB]

[snip]

Thank you for posting this, I actually came here to ask if there was a simplified list of confirmations as I've lost track given all the other threads.

Happy to do it! I've actually been keeping track of it for my students because we just went through the unit concerning executive departments (we always end comparing the Washington administration to the current administration). Following this thread (and certain Twitter feeds) has made it so I can keep the list up-to-date for my class.

sometimes I forget people on atlas have lives so this surprised me for some reason LOL

[AndyHogan14]

UPDATED SCHEDULE:
February 22
9:30am • Garland (Hearing; Judiciary • Day 1)
5:30pm • Thomas-Greenfield (Cloture)

February 23
9:30am • Garland (Hearing; Judiciary • Day 2)
10:00am • Becerra (Hearing; HELP)
TBA • Vilsack (Senate Vote)

February 24
2:30pm • Guzman (Committee Vote; SBE)

March 1
TBA • Garland (Committee Vote; Judiciary)

***

Confirmed
Blinken, Yellen, Austin, Buttigieg, McDonough, Mayorkas, Haines

Awaiting Full Senate Vote
Vilsack (2/23), Raimondo (TBA), Fudge (TBA), Granholm (TBA), Walsh (TBA), Cardona (TBA), Thomas-Greenfield (Cloture 2/22), Rouse (TBA), Regan (TBA)

Awaiting Committee Vote
Guzman (2/24), Garland (3/1), Tanden (TBA; HSGAC), Tanden (TBA; Budget)

Awaiting Committee Hearing
Garland (2/22-23), Becerra (2/23)

Committee Hearings Not Yet Scheduled
Haaland, Tai, Lander

***

The actual times for Merrick Garland's hearings have been added to the Senate website and Xavier Becerra's hearings have FINALLY been scheduled by the HELP Committee.

[BudgieForce]

The Haaland confirmation is going to be fun. And by fun, I mean awful. Good thing Manchin has already said he'd vote for her.

[Swedish Rainbow Capitalist Cheese]

The confirmation process seems to be going even slower since the Democrats assumed control of the agenda. Jesus, get a move on already!

[AndyHogan14]

The confirmation process seems to be going even slower since the Democrats assumed control of the agenda. Jesus, get a move on already!

Impeachment did not help and the current recess is not helping. Right now, there is a logjam of nominees that have been approved by committee but haven't had a full Senate vote. We already have two Senate votes scheduled for next week and I expect more to be put on the schedule soon—perhaps we will have a quasi-votearama on nominees next week! Ha!

[emailking]

sometimes I forget people on atlas have lives so this surprised me for some reason LOL

Sometimes I forget that posters don't look like the people they have in their sigs, lol.