Neera Tanden, Biden's pick for budget chief, defends progressive credentials, deletes old tweets - USA TODAY

Several prominent Republican senators indicated Neera Tanden could face an "uphill battle" when she seeks confirmation.

Voices from the left and the right protested after Biden announced Monday he would nominate Neera Tanden, who heads the left-leaning Center for American Progress, as his budget chief at the same time he officially unveiled other senior members of his economics team, including Janet Yellen, whom he tapped as his Treasury secretary. .

Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, tweeted, "Neera Tanden is smart, experienced, and qualified for the position of OMB Director." And he objected to Republican calls to block her nomination, saying, "The American people decisively voted for change – Mitch McConnell shouldn’t block us from having a functioning government that gets to work for the people we serve." .

John Cornyn told reporters Tanden was Biden's "worst nominee so far" because of caustic tweets she had posted in the recent past. 

Center for American Progress President Neera Tanden speaks at a protest outside the White House, Tuesday, July 17, 2018, in Washington. (Photo: Andrew Harnik, AP)

Earlier Monday, Drew Brandewie, Cornyn's communication director said Tanden "stands zero chance of being confirmed" because of an "endless stream of disparaging comments about the Republican Senators whose vote she'll need." 

The former chief of staff to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell tweeted that Tanden's nomination was a "sacrifice to the confirmation gods." 

Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. – who is expected to chair the Budget Committee – told reporters Tanden's confirmation could be an "uphill battle." 

Tanden has been highly critical of a number of Republican senators during the Trump administration – referring to them as the president's "enablers" – including McConnell whom she accused of "weakness and recklessness on Russia." 

A number of tweets appeared to have been deleted from Tanden's account Monday night, but according to The Wall Street Journal, she also once tweeted, "I’m glad McConnell is fiddling, while the markets burn."

A Google search for posts on McConnell under her account revealed at least four tweets that were no longer available. 

A look at the Internet Archive Wayback Machine showed that the number of tweets under Tanden's account declined from 88,600 on Nov

EST Monday, the number of tweets on her account dropped to 87,500. 

A number of Tanden's supporters dismissed the criticism, arguing many of those condemning her tweets had tolerated far worse from Trump. 

"Republican Senators who have cowered in fear over a mean Trump tweet now lashing out at Neera Tanden is a particularly severe case of cowardice," said Joe Lockhart,  White House communications director under former President Bill Clinton. 

"If Republican Senators really think mean tweets are disqualifying for high office, then they should have voted to impeach Trump," tweeted Ben Rhodes, a former speechwriter for Obama