Indianz.Com > News > Deb Haaland finally lands confirmation hearing to be Secretary of the Interior
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Deb Haaland finally lands confirmation hearing to be Secretary of the Interior
Wednesday, February 17, 2021
Indianz.Com
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Rep. Deb Haaland (D-New Mexico) is inching closer to making history as the first Native person to serve in a modern-day presidential cabinet.
Haaland, a citizen of the Pueblo of Laguna, will go before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee for her confirmation hearing next week. The February 23 proceeding is a long-awaited development for Indian Country, where tribal leaders and tribal citizens alike see her nomination to be Secretary of the Interior in President Joe Biden’s administration as extremely significant.
“The United States must uphold its responsibility to tribal nations, honor its treaties, and provide a voice for Indian Country in the federal government,” a national letter of support that will be submitted to the committee reads. “It is with this responsibility in mind and with tremendous enthusiasm that we urge you to swiftly consider and confirm President Joseph R. Biden’s nomination of Rep. Haaland to lead the Department of the Interior.”
Should she be confirmed as Secretary, Haaland will be the first Native person in charge of the Department of the Interior, the federal agency with the largest number of programs serving tribes and their citizens. Her workload would include the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Bureau of Indian Education and the Bureau of Trust Funds Administration, along with countless other areas that affect American Indians and Alaska Natives.
Barrasso, a former chair of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs who spoke with the Interior nominee by phone in early January, insisted in a statement last week that Haaland “must demonstrate that she will follow the law, protect the multiple uses of our public lands and reject policies that will force energy workers into the unemployment line.” He didn’t mention that as president, Biden has the authority to determine how the executive branch implements federal statutes, a power enshrined in the U.S Constitution. With the Senate evenly split between Democrats and Republicans, and with committees reflecting the same delicate divide, any dissent threatens Haaland’s nomination. But experts in Indian law and policy believe the chamber will eventually vote to confirm her as Secretary of the Interior despite “complications” related to Biden’s directives affecting resource extraction, climate change and related issues “The historic nature of Deb Haaland’s nomination I think will make it very difficult for several Republicans to object, especially those have have strong ties to Indian Country, ” attorney Sarah A. Walters, a citizen of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, said during an event hosted by the National Congress of American Indians last month. Both Daines and Barrasso come from states with significant Indian populations. In fact, almost every member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Democrats and Republicans alike, falls in the same boat, whether it be Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Washington) or Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska). There’s also lots of overlap with the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs.Interior secretary nominee has joined pipeline protests and opposed fracking https://t.co/IDFBD1bOgk
— Senator John Cornyn (@JohnCornyn) February 15, 2021
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Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Notice
Hearing to Consider Nomination of the Honorable Debra Haaland to be the Secretary of the Interior (February 23, 2021)
Deb Haaland: Secretary of the Interior Nominee
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