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Deb Haaland, Nominee to be Secretary of the Interior: ‘I am honored and ready to serve’
Joe Biden nominees slated for first confirmation hearings in U.S. Senate
Tuesday, January 19, 2021
Indianz.Com

With Democratic president-elect Joe Biden about to take office, some of his Cabinet nominees are getting their confirmation hearings on Capitol Hill.

On Tuesday, five nominees will go before various U.S. Senate committees and present their agendas for the new presidential administration:

Janet Yellen, Secretary of the Treasury, Senate Committee on Finance

Avril Haines, Director of National Intelligence, Senate Committee on Intelligence

Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of Homeland Security, Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

Antony Blinken, Secretary of State, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations

Lloyd Austin, Secretary of Defense, Senate Committee on Armed Services

Additionally, Pete Buttigieg, a former Democratic candidate for president, will go before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation on Thursday. As former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, Buttigieg has direct experience in tribal government issues, having worked with the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians on land-into-trust and other matters.

The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources has not yet announced a confirmation hearing for Rep. Deb Haaland (D-New Mexico) to be Secretary of the Interior. If confirmed, she would be the first Native person to lead the Department of the Interior and the first Native person in a modern-day presidential cabinet.

Biden will be sworn in as the 46th president of the United States during a ceremony at the heavily fortified U.S. Capitol on Wednesday. The oath of office also will be administered to Kamala Harris, who will be the first woman, the first person of African descent and the first person of South Asian (Indian) descent to serve as vice president.

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