Indianz.Com > News > Cronkite News: Indian Country awaits final vote on Deb Haaland for Cabinet post
Committee vote moves Haaland one step closer to historic Interior post
Tuesday, March 9, 2021
Cronkite News
WASHINGTON – A Senate committee narrowly voted last Thursday to advance Rep. Debra Haaland’s nomination to be the next secretary of Interior, moving her one step closer to becoming the first Native American to head a Cabinet-level agency.
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee
voted 11-9
to send Haaland’s nomination to the full Senate, over the objections of Republicans who said her “radical views” are “squarely at odds with the mission of the Department of the Interior and outside of the mainstream.”
But Democrats praised the New Mexico Democrat’s policy positions and cited her record of bipartisanship as a member of the House. Analysts expect she will pick up a couple Republican votes in the full Senate, giving her more than the 51 needed to win confirmation.
News of the preliminary approval was welcomed by tribal groups. “We need Congresswoman Haaland on the job without delay,” said Fawn Sharp, president of the National Congress of American Indians, in a prepared statement. “The nation needs her leadership and vision to help lead our response to climate change, to steward our lands and ensure … the United States lives up to its trust and treaty obligations to tribal nations and our citizens,” said Sharp, who called it “fitting that while we celebrate Women’s History Month, Deb Haaland is poised to make it.” If confirmed, Haaland would take over an agency with about 70,000 employees and a budget of more than $21 billion. In addition to overseeing hundreds of national parks and monuments, the department manages 480 million acres – nearly one-fifth of the total land area of the U.S. – and 700 million acres of minerals, including coal, oil and natural gas, as well as renewable energy sources. The department also includes the Bureau of Indian Affairs and holds most tribal lands in trust, a fact that makes President Joe Biden’s nomination of Haaland particularly important to her supporters.Rep. Deb Haaland (D-New Mexico) is on her way to making history yet again, clearing her first vote to serve as Secretary of the Interior in the Joe Biden administration.
— indianz.com (@indianz) March 4, 2021
Check out the recap to learn who is for #DebForInterior and who isn't.https://t.co/V26lt7TqGx
![debhaaland](https://indianz.com/News/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/09/debhaaland-scaled.jpg)
Note: This story originally appeared on Cronkite News. It is published via a Creative Commons license. Cronkite News is produced by the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University.
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