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Shalanda Young has become the first Black woman to be named the head of the Office of Management and Budget, The New York Times reported. Young won the position after the Senate voted 61-36 almost a year after she was named the acting director of the same office, which oversees the government’s budget.
“I want to thank the president for the trust he has placed in me, as well as members of both parties in the Senate for their support,” Young said in a statement according to the Times. “Together with the extraordinary team at O.M.B., we will continue to build on the historic progress our country has made, advance the president’s ambitious agenda and deliver results for the American people.”
Young, who was endorsed by the Congressional Black Caucus, is now the fifth Black woman in President Joe Biden’s cabinet
“I think it’d be hard for the Biden administration to do any better, Republican Senator Richard Shelby told The Hill about Young’s nomination. “She’ll do a good job, if they let her.”
Previously, Young served as the Clerk and Staff Director for the House Appropriations Committee where she monitored “$1.3 trillion annual appropriations bills, necessary disaster aid, and major aspects of COVID-19 related spending,” noted by the Council on Foundations. Before she took on those roles, she was the subcommittee clerk, detailee, professional staff member and deputy staff director of the same committee. Young was the first Black woman to be named the committee’s majority staff director as well. She was a dedicated member of this committee for 14 years. Before she became a member of the House Appropriations Committee, she was the Presidential Management Fellow at the National Institute of Health.
Young hails from Baton Rouge, Louisiana and began her career in 2001 after moving to Washington, D.C. She received her Bachelor of Arts Degree from Loyola University New Orleans and her Master’s Degree from Tulane University.
When she was the acting director of Office of Management and Budget, Young ordered that over $3 trillion in pandemic relief packages into law and also kept the government funded.
Young was sworn in by Vice President Kamala Harris on March 17.
During a speech on the Senate floor before Young’s vote, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said “another glass ceiling shattered by a remarkable member of the President’s historic Cabinet.”
“It shouldn’t have taken this long to confirm someone as obviously as qualified as Shalanda Young. She’s been leading the OMB for nearly a year. She knows the budget and appropriations processes like the back of her hand. She’s proven capable of working with Republicans and Democrats alike. And it was through her guidance the administration notched some of its biggest victories including the passage of the bipartisan infrastructure law.”
