NEERA TANDEN RECOUNTS HER JOURNEY FROM POVERTY TO POWER

Speaking during the introduction of members of US President-elect Joe Biden’s economic team, Neera Tanden, who has been named the new administration’s budget chief, shares her incredible rise from poverty to power

Highlighting the common connection between her life and that of Vice President-elect Kamala Harris—both were raised by single mothers, who came from India and through their determination saw their daughters rise to positions of power—Tanden said: “Like the Vice President-elect’s mother, Shyamala, my mother, Maya, was born in India. Like so many millions, across every generation, she came to America to pursue a better life.”

But their stories diverge after their parents’ divorces, Tanden’s at age five and Harris’s at seven.

Tanden fell from the middle class and what followed was a saga of her mother’s determination and American generosity. “I’m here today thanks to my mother’s grit, but also thanks to a country that had faith in us, that invested in her humanity, and in our dreams,” she said. “My mom was left on her own with two children” and without a job. She faced a choice—return to India, where at the time divorce was stigmatised and opportunity would be limited—or keep fighting for her American Dream. She stayed, and America came through for her when times were tough.”

Of her mother’s struggle, she said, “This country gave her a fair shot to reach for the middle class and she made it work. She got a job as a travel agent, and before long, she was able to buy us our own home in Bedford, Massachusetts, and see her children off to college, and beyond… I’m here today because of social programmes. Because of budgetary choices. Because of a government that saw my mother’s dignity, and gave her a chance.”

“Now, it’s my honour to help shape those budgets and programmes to keep lifting Americans up, to pull families back from the brink. To give everybody the fair chance my mother got, and that everyone deserves,” Tanden said.

She had worked for former Bill Clinton’s campaign and became an associate director for domestic policy at the White House and as an adviser to Hillary Clinton. In Obama’s administration, she was a senior adviser to the Health and Human Services Department helping craft his affordable healthcare law and programme.

Tanden said she strongly believes that the US government is meant to serve all the American people — Republicans, Democrats, and Independents alike.

Her position is one of the most powerful, overseeing the crafting of the nearly $5 trillion budget, having responsibility for seeing to the management of several agencies and liaising with Congress.

Biden’s pick to lead the powerful White House budget office has generated early controversy, emerging as an immediate target for conservatives and Republican lawmakers. Tanden is said to have run in trouble with some of the Republican senators due to her comments about certain members of the Senate.

The other key members of the economic team also delivered speeches including Janet Yellen, Secretary of the Treasury; Wally Adeyemo, Deputy Secretary of the Treasury; Cecilia Rouse, Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers; and Jared Bernstein and Heather Boushey, members of the Council of Economic Advisers.

With agency inputs