President Joe Biden's nominee for deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget that was being poised to take the director's position reportedly equates abortions with "racial justice" and wants the Hyde Amendment to be removed.
Townhall reported on Saturday that senators are actually thinking twice of approving the replacement for Biden's nominee for the Office of Management and Budget Director, Shalanda Young, after her statements on the Hyde Amendment.
According to Townhall, Young replaced the original nominee of Biden for the post, Neera Tanden, who voluntarily withdrew her nomination after speaking against Republican lawmakers. Townhall, in its November report, cited a post by Drew Brandewie that Tanden had "zero chances" of getting approved of her appointment due to her "disparaging comments" on Republicans after Biden announced his nomination for her.
"Neera Tanden, who has an endless stream of disparaging comments about the Republican Senators' whose votes she'll need, stands zero chance of being confirmed," Brandewie, the Communications Director of Texas Senator John Cornyn, said in Twitter.
The person next in line to Tanden, Townhall said, was Young who originally received few negative criticisms was supported by both parties, especially with her good credentials. Young is a Clerk and Staff Director for the House Appropriations Committee and being a Deputy Staff Director for the same Committee that allowed her to oversee $1.3 trillion annual appropriation bills according to her profile on the Council on Foundations.
It turned out her credibility became questionable due to her stance on the Hyde Amendment, which protects American taxpayer money from being used for abortion excluding cases of rape, incest, or threat to a mother's life.
Townhall highlighted that Senators had second thoughts in affirming Young for stating that abortion is necessary for women since it is "a matter of economic and racial justice."
"The President has spoken in favor of Congress ending the Hyde Amendment as part of his commitment to providing comprehensive health care for all women. Further, eliminating the Hyde Amendment is a matter of economic and racial justice because it most significantly impacts Medicaid recipients, who are low-income and more likely to be women of color," Young told lawmakers during her interview with them.
Young's pronouncement changed the mind of Ohio Senator Rob Portman who earlier agreed in Young taking the directorship position, Townhall stressed. Portman, who is the Committee Ranking Member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, decided otherwise since removing the Hyde Amendment would put on people's conscience the use of taxpayer's money for abortion while not everyone agrees on the issue on abortion per se.
"This is one where our country is so deeply divided on abortion, where we've been able to come together and decide, at a minimum, let's not tell people with a deep view based on their conscience on this, that they have to pay taxpayer funds for abortion," he explained.
A matter that Michigan Senator Gary Peters took to the defense of Young as a statement of facts during his interview with Roll Call.
"In her written responses, Ms. Young stated that ending the Hyde amendment is a matter of economic and racial justice because its impact is felt most among low-income women of color. This is simply a statement of fact," Peters told Roll Call. "But she also confirmed that she will follow current law, which includes the Hyde amendment. So I have a hard time following the objections of my Republican colleagues."
Roll Call reported that Young's nomination as Office of Management and Budget Director was voted against by all seven Republican members of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and by eight out of eleven Senate Budget panel members.
Despite Democrats pushing for Young's appointment, Biden has not nominated her for the post since there are a "range of individuals in the country who are qualified for the job, so we'll leave (the president) the space and time to make a decision about who he'd like to nominate as a replacement for Neera Tanden," according to White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki last March 4 as reported by CBS News.
