Biden names Neera Tanden as his domestic policy adviser
Tanden will replace Susan Rice, who plans to leave the administration later this month.
President Joe Biden announced on Friday that Neera Tanden will serve as the next head of his domestic policy council.
Tanden, a longtime prominent Democratic operative, will replace Susan Rice, who plans to leave the administration later this month. Tanden has spent the last year-and-a-half as senior adviser and staff secretary in the White House, after her initial nomination to run the Office of Management and Budget faltered in the face of Senate opposition.
“While growing up, Neera relied on some of the critical programs that she will oversee as Domestic Policy Advisor,” Biden said in a statement announcing the move. “I know those insights will serve my Administration and the American people well.”
In addition, the White House announced that Stef Feldman, a longtime Biden aide dating back to the Obama administration, will replace Tanden in the role of staff secretary.
The decision to elevate Tanden comes as Biden prepares a reelection campaign that will rely, in part, on the effective implementation of a slate of domestic policy accomplishments spanning infrastructure, climate and health care. The Domestic Policy Council under Rice had also played a central role in devising the administration’s strategy for replacing Title 42, the strict Trump-era border policy that’s set to lift next week.
Tanden has extensive experience in Democratic policy circles, having previously run the sprawling progressive think tank Center for American Progress. She also did a stint as a senior health official in the Obama administration, where she played a role in crafting the Affordable Care Act.
Still, her selection is likely to be met with trepidation from Republicans and even some Democrats who found themselves the targets at times of her once-combative Twitter account.
It was her tweeting that led to staunch opposition from Republicans and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) to her initial nomination to run OMB. The Domestic Policy Council role does not require Senate confirmation.
Tanden did not immediately respond to a request for comment.