Former senior advisor to President Joe Biden, Neera Tanden, accused Republican Rep. Mike Lawler (NY) of voting on a bill before he was even a member of Congress, prompting the lawmaker to demand an apology “for lying.”
The testy exchange occurred on “CNN NewsNight With Abby Phillip” on Monday evening.
Tanden, who had previously been nominated as a member of Biden’s cabinet but faced opposition from both sides due to her troubled history, initiated the controversy by commenting on the Trump administration’s plans to encourage Americans to have more children.
That topic allowed her to springboard into defending child care and the child tax credit. In doing so, she accused Lawler of voting against a 2022 budget reconciliation bill that emerged from Biden’s broader Build Back Better agenda.
“I totally agree that we should do a lot more as an administration to support families. And one way to do that is childcare,” said Tanden. “Another way to do that is paid leave. And I think it‘s unfortunate that, you know, conservatives, Republicans have voted against those very ideas in Congress. The child tax credit was opposed by every Republican and Mike Lawler.”
There’s just one issue with her claim. And it’s a really, really big one. Lawler wasn’t in Congress when that vote took place.