{"id":39294,"date":"2020-12-01T11:06:09","date_gmt":"2020-12-01T15:06:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/?p=39294"},"modified":"2020-12-01T11:10:05","modified_gmt":"2020-12-01T15:10:05","slug":"bidens-omb-choice-wanted-to-make-libya-pay-for-the-western-bombing-campaign-to-fund-leftist-social-programs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/?p=39294","title":{"rendered":"Biden&#8217;s OMB Choice Wanted to Make Libya Pay for the Western Bombing Campaign to Fund Leftist Social Programs"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Biden\u2019s pick for budget director once championed funding social spending by MAKING LIBYA PAY for regime-change bombing campaign<\/h1>\n<p><!--more-->RT.com<\/p>\n<p>Self-proclaimed President-elect Joe Biden has chosen a budget director, Neera Tanden, who once argued the US should ease funding shortages for left-wing social programs by making countries like Libya pay for being bombed.<\/p>\n<p>Biden\u2019s transition team on Monday announced its nominations for the six people selected to fill key economic roles in the incoming administration, led by former Federal Reserve Bank Chair Janet Yellen as treasury secretary. Tanden, a Hillary Clinton loyalist who currently heads the Center for American Progress, will be director of the Office of Management and Budget if Biden\u2019s media-declared election victory withstands legal challenges from President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n<div class=\"rtcode\">\n<div class=\"twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered\"><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-0\" class=\"\" title=\"Twitter Tweet\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/index.html?creatorScreenName=RT_com&amp;dnt=false&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-0&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1333422922904506370&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rt.com%2Fusa%2F508274-biden-budget-director-tanden%2F&amp;siteScreenName=RT_com&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=ed20a2b%3A1601588405575&amp;width=550px\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-tweet-id=\"1333422922904506370\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>However, critics have already recalled an example of her unusual budgeting philosophy. In a 2011 email that was made public by WikiLeaks, Tanden said Libya should be made to pay for the bombing campaign that helped to topple Muammar Gaddafi\u2019s government, which would help balance the US domestic budget.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cWe have a giant deficit, they have a lot of oil,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0Tanden said.\u00a0<em>\u201cMost Americans would choose not to engage in the world because of that deficit.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><em>If we want to continue to engage in the world, gestures like having oil-rich countries partially pay us back doesn\u2019t seem crazy to me.<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<div class=\"rtcode\">\n<div class=\"twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered\"><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-1\" class=\"\" title=\"Twitter Tweet\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/index.html?creatorScreenName=RT_com&amp;dnt=false&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-1&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1333166709927260160&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rt.com%2Fusa%2F508274-biden-budget-director-tanden%2F&amp;siteScreenName=RT_com&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=ed20a2b%3A1601588405575&amp;width=550px\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-tweet-id=\"1333166709927260160\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Tanden added that demanding such payment would be better than cutting social programs, such as food aid for poor Americans.\u00a0<em>\u201cDo we prefer cuts to Head Start? Or WIC? Or Medicaid? Because we live in deficit politics, and that\u2019s what is happening and will be happening even more.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>She sent that message on October 21, 2011 \u2013 the day after Gaddafi was brutally murdered by militants in Sirte, following seven months of a NATO bombing campaign. Gaddafi\u2019s overthrow turned Libya into a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/nationalinterest.org\/blog\/the-skeptics\/libya-failed-state-its-americas-fault-23325\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">failed state<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0led to the rise of Islamist groups and a slave trade. It also helped spur the European migrant crisis.<\/p>\n<p>To demand payment for such a catastrophe might seem absurd, at least in hindsight, but the idea was hardly Tanden\u2019s only eyebrow-raising statement or action. The Yale-trained lawyer allegedly\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2019\/04\/15\/us\/politics\/tanden-sanders-.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">punched<\/a>\u00a0a reporter in the chest in 2008 after he asked Clinton a question about supporting the Iraq War. After Clinton lost the 2016 presidential election, Tanden quickly embraced the never-proved theory that Russia stole the contest for Trump.<\/p>\n<p>Tanden suggested as recently as last year that nothing in the infamous Steele dossier had been disproven. She later turned on fellow Democrat Tulsi Gabbard after the congresswoman spoke out against arming terrorists to overthrow Syria\u2019s government. She also suggested that Gabbard, an Iraq War veteran, is linked to Russia.<\/p>\n<div class=\"rtcode\">\n<div class=\"twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered\"><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-2\" class=\"\" title=\"Twitter Tweet\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/index.html?creatorScreenName=RT_com&amp;dnt=false&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-2&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1086263353582993408&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rt.com%2Fusa%2F508274-biden-budget-director-tanden%2F&amp;siteScreenName=RT_com&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=ed20a2b%3A1601588405575&amp;width=550px\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-tweet-id=\"1086263353582993408\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Tanden also has\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/davidsirota\/status\/1333470139145019392\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">critics<\/a>\u00a0on the left, given some of her past policy statements and her alleged disdain for Senator Bernie Sanders, who was Biden\u2019s chief rival in the Democrat primaries.<\/p>\n<div class=\"rtcode\">\n<div class=\"twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered\"><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-3\" class=\"\" title=\"Twitter Tweet\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/index.html?creatorScreenName=RT_com&amp;dnt=false&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-3&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1333175649754902530&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rt.com%2Fusa%2F508274-biden-budget-director-tanden%2F&amp;siteScreenName=RT_com&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=ed20a2b%3A1601588405575&amp;width=550px\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-tweet-id=\"1333175649754902530\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>One of Biden\u2019s other top candidates for budget director, Bruce Reed, had also faced opposition from the left. Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York), Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Michigan), members of the \u2018Squad\u2019 progressive wing in the US House, last week\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.yahoo.com\/news\/aoc-ilhan-omar-sign-petition-155635306.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">petitioned<\/a>\u00a0to block Reed from the top budget job, essentially because of his advocacy for balancing the budget. The congresswomen called Reed a\u00a0<em>\u201cdeficit hawk\u201d<\/em>\u00a0and said rejecting him would be\u00a0<em>\u201ca major test for the soul of the Biden presidency.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>___<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rt.com\/usa\/508274-biden-budget-director-tanden\/\">https:\/\/www.rt.com\/usa\/508274-biden-budget-director-tanden\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Biden\u2019s pick for budget director once championed funding social spending by MAKING LIBYA PAY for regime-change bombing campaign<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=39294"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39294\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=39294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=39294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=39294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}