S. HRG. 117–025 NOMINATION OF MS. NEERA TANDEN, OF MASSACHUSETTS, TO BE DIREC- TOR OF THE OFFICE OF MANAGE- MENT AND BUDGET HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON THE BUDGET UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION February 10, 2021—HEARING ON THE NOMINATION OF MS. NEERA TANDEN, OF MASSACHUSETTS, TO BE DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET ( Printed for use of the Senate Budget Committee NOMINATION OF MS. NEERA TANDEN, OF MASSACHUSETTS, TO BE DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET S. HRG. 117–025 NOMINATION OF MS. NEERA TANDEN, OF MASSACHUSETTS, TO BE DIREC- TOR OF THE OFFICE OF MANAGE- MENT AND BUDGET HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON THE BUDGET UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION February 10, 2021—HEARING ON THE NOMINATION OF MS. NEERA TANDEN, OF MASSACHUSETTS, TO BE DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET ( Printed for use of the Senate Budget Committee U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 44–901 WASHINGTON : 2021 COMMITTEE ON THE BUDGET BERNARD SANDERS, Vermont, Chairman PATTY MURRAY, Washington LINDSEY O. GRAHAM, South Carolina RON WYDEN, Oregon CHARLES E. GRASSLEY, Iowa DEBBIE STABENOW, Michigan MIKE CRAPO, Idaho SHELDON WHITEHOUSE, Rhode Island PATRICK TOOMEY, Pennsylvania MARK R. WARNER, Virginia RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin JEFF MERKLEY, Oregon MIKE BRAUN, Indiana TIM KAINE, Virginia RICK SCOTT, Florida CHRIS VAN HOLLEN, Maryland BEN SASSE, Nebraska BEN RAY LUJA´ N, New Mexico MITT ROMNEY, Utah ALEX PADILLA, California JOHN KENNEDY, Louisiana KEVIN CRAMER, North Dakota WARREN GUNNELS, Majority Staff Director NICK MYERS, Minority Staff Director (II) C O N T E N T S HEARING Page February 10, 2021—Hearing on the Nomination of Ms. Neera Tanden, of Massachusetts, To Be Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) .................................................................................................................... 1 OPENING STATEMENTS BY COMMITTEE MEMBERS Chairman Bernard Sanders .................................................................................... 1 Ranking Member Lindsey Graham ........................................................................ 3 WITNESSES Testimony of Neera Tanden, of Massachusetts, To Be Director, Office of Management and Budget .................................................................................... 8 Prepared Statement of ..................................................................................... 38 Statement of Honorable Amy Klobuchar, A United States Senator from the State of Minnesota ............................................................................................... 5 Statement of Honorable Cory A. Booker, A United States Senator from the State of New Jersey ............................................................................................. 7 MATERIALS SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD Statement of Biographical and Financial Information Requested of Presi- dential Nominee Ms. Neera Tanden To Be Director of the Office of Manage- ment and Budget .................................................................................................. 40 Pre-Hearing Questions from Chairman Bernard Sanders with Answers by Neera Tanden ....................................................................................................... 63 Pre-Hearing Questions from Ranking Member Lindsey Graham with Answers by Neera Tanden .................................................................................................. 65 Pre-Hearing Questions from Senator Kevin Cramer with Answers by Neera Tanden .................................................................................................................. 70 Pre-Hearing Questions from Senator Mike Braun with Answers by Neera Tanden .................................................................................................................. 71 Post-Hearing Questions from Budget Committee Members with Answers by Neera Tanden: ...................................................................................................... 73 Senator Charles E. Grassley ............................................................................ 74 Senator Ron Wyden .......................................................................................... 79 Senator Mike Crapo ......................................................................................... 82 Senator Debbie Stabenow ................................................................................ 86 Senator Sheldon Whitehouse ........................................................................... 88 Senator Mark R. Warner ................................................................................. 92 Senator Jeff Merkley ........................................................................................ 93 Senator Patrick Toomey ................................................................................... 94 Senator Ben Sasse ............................................................................................ 98 Senator Chris Van Hollen ................................................................................ 102 Senator Kevin Cramer ..................................................................................... 105 Senator Mike Braun ......................................................................................... 112 Senator Ben Ray Luja´n .................................................................................... 114 (III) THE NOMINATION OF MS. NEERA TANDEN, OF MASSACHUSETTS, TO BE DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2021 U.S. SENATE, COMMITTEE ON THE BUDGET, Washington, D.C. The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:00 a.m., via Webex and in Room SD–608, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Honorable Bernard Sanders, Chairman of the Committee, presiding. Present: Senators Sanders, Murray, Wyden, Stabenow, White- house, Warner, Merkley, Kaine, Van Hollen, Luja´n, Padilla, Gra- ham, Grassley, Crapo, Toomey, Johnson, Braun, Scott, Sasse, Rom- ney, and Kennedy. Staff Present: Warren Gunnels, Majority Staff Director; and Nick Myers, Republican Staff Director. OPENING STATEMENT OF CHAIRMAN BERNARD SANDERS Chairman SANDERS. Let me thank everybody for being here and everybody else who is with us virtually. I am delighted to call the very first meeting of the Budget Committee to order. As all of you know, we are here today to consider the nomination of Neera Tanden to become the next Director of the Office of Man- agement and Budget. We all know that that position is an ex- tremely important one. It is responsible for preparing the Presi- dent’s budget, for reviewing Federal regulations, and for providing the proper oversight of Federal agencies. No small tasks. For the past 10 years, Ms. Tanden has served as the president and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Center for American Progress (CAP). Prior to that she worked in the United States Sen- ate as a Legislative Director and served in the Obama and Clinton administrations as a Senior Domestic Policy Adviser. Good morn- ing, Ms. Tanden, and thanks very much for being with us. Before I go further, let me mention that we have some new mem- bers of this Committee, and let me welcome Senators Luja´n, Padilla, Sasse, and Romney to the Budget Committee. This Committee has very broad jurisdiction dealing with any pol- icy that impacts the Federal budget. That is a lot of stuff out there. And at a time when our country faces an unprecedented series of crises, this will be a very active Committee in which we will be ex- ploring many issues, including trying to get an understanding of what is happening to the working class of this country, the middle class, and lower-income Americans. And I hope we are going to (1) 2 have those good discussions in a civil manner. The American peo- ple need to hear different points of view. They need to get an un- derstanding of why what is happening in this country is, in fact, happening. In general, we do not do a good job as Members of Congress, the media does not do a good job, and I hope this Committee will have civil, serious debates about some of the most important issues fac- ing America. We are going to explore what it means that in this country today the people on the top economically are doing phenomenally well, while so many tens of millions of Americans are struggling right now in America to put food on the table, to pay their rent, or to have the income they need to go to a doctor in the midst of a pan- demic. Today in America we are living through the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression and the worst public health crisis in more than 100 years. Real unemployment is over 11 percent. Over 23 million Americans are either unemployed, underemployed, or have given up looking for work altogether. Unbelievably, more than half of American workers are living paycheck to paycheck and are just one medical emergency, one car accident, one lost paycheck away from financial disaster. In America, disgracefully, we have the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major country on Earth. The COVID–19 pan- demic is still raging across the Nation and is responsible for taking the lives of more than 450,000 Americans, and obviously, all of us hope that we are going to address that crisis as rapidly as possible. But, meanwhile, in the midst of that pandemic, over 90 million Americans are either uninsured or underinsured, and we remain the only major country