United States President Joe Biden has announced he will nominate Shalanda Young to lead the White House’s Office of Management and Budget, an influential post that sets policies across the US government.
Young has been serving as the acting director of OMB for eight months. She would be the first Black woman to serve in the position once confirmed by the US Senate.
Young “will not only be a tremendously qualified director, she will also be a historic director,” Biden said in a video released by the White House on Wednesday, November 24, 2021.
Young’s appointment comes as Biden’s Democrats, who hold a narrow majority in Congress, face a deadline to pass new legislation providing funding for government agencies.
Part of the executive branch, OMB, which administers the federal budget, will play a vital role in implementing Biden’s $1.2 trillion infrastructure spending plan and his Build Back Better proposal for $1.75 trillion in social and clean energy spending.
Young had previously served as a staff director to Democrats on the Appropriations Committee of the US House of Representatives, which writes all spending legislation.
Young was confirmed as deputy director of OMB by a bipartisan Senate vote 63-37 on March 23. Biden said he and congressional leaders had been “impressed” by Young in her handling the job as an acting director.
Young became acting OMB director when Biden’s first nominee, Neera Tanden, faced opposition in the Senate for her previous work as a Democratic partisan.
Biden said on Wednesday that he will name Nani Coloretti to be deputy director of OMB to replace Young in that role. Coloretti is a senior vice president at the Urban Institute, a non-governmental organisation advocating policies to promote US cities.
A Filipino-American, Coloretti had previously served in management roles at the Department of Housing and Urban Development and Treasury in the Obama administration.
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