The Senate Confirms Biden’s OMB Director
Shalanda Young has been serving as acting director since March 2021.
The Biden administration finally has a confirmed Office of Management and Budget director.
The Senate voted 61-36 on Tuesday to confirm Shalanda Young as the agency’s director. Young, who was already serving in the role in an acting capacity, will be the first Black woman to hold the director position.
On the Senate floor on Tuesday morning, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., praised Young’s qualifications. “She knows the budget and appropriations processes like the back of her hand. She’s proven capable of working with Republicans and Democrats alike,” Schumer said. “And it was through her guidance the administration notched some of its biggest victories including the passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.”
He added: “Shalanda Young is one of the most effective Cabinet leaders to have the label of ‘acting’ in a very long time, but it’s long past time for that word to drop from job title.”
On Monday, Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., chair of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, also touted her qualifications.
“OMB will continue to be central to the administration’s efforts to tackle the nation’s ongoing challenges,” Peters said. “Ms. Young will be instrumental in leading that work.”
He noted that in addition to her tenure at OMB, she “brings nearly two decades of public service experience to her role, including as a senior staff member on the House Appropriations Committee.”
OMB plays a central role in the federal budget, regulations, procurement, federal workforce management. Creating and executing the president’s management agenda is one of OMB’s many responsibilities. Earlier on Tuesday, OMB Jason Miller, deputy director for management, announced the leaders for the PMA’s three priority areas.
“Strengthening and empowering the workforce” will be led by Kiran Ahuja, director of the Office of Personnel Management; Dr. Kathleen Hicks, deputy secretary of the Defense; and Julie Su, deputy secretary of Labor.
“Delivering excellent, equitable and secure federal services and customer experience” will be led by Dr. Jewel Bronaugh, deputy secretary of Agriculture; Robin Carnahan, administrator of the General Services Administration; and Donald Remy, deputy secretary of Veterans Affairs.
Lastly, “managing the business of government to build back better” will be led by Don Graves, deputy secretary of Commerce; Andrea Palm, deputy secretary of Health and Human Services; and John Tien, deputy secretary of Homeland Security.
“In the near term, [priority area leads] will work to identify both strategies and cross-agency priority goal leads to attack day-to-day implementation, as well as kicking off the action planning process that includes outcome focused goal statements, success metrics, workstreams, and milestones,” said Miller. “We look forward to providing additional updates this spring on the full set of leaders that will lead PMA implementation as well as key success metrics we will use to track progress.”