Senate committee schedules confirmation hearing for Interior nominee

Indianz.Com > News > Senate committee schedules confirmation hearing for Interior nominee

The main building of the Department of the Interior, located at 1849 C Street NW in Washington, D.C., is seen on March 3, 2025. Photo by Indianz.Com (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)

Thursday, March 27, 2025

Indianz.Com

The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources has scheduled an April 2 confirmation hearing for Katharine MacGregor to serve as Deputy Secretary of the Interior.

The upcoming hearing comes more than two months after President Donald Trump nominated MacGregor for the political post. If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, she would be the second-in-command at the Department of the Interior, the federal agency with the most trust and treaty responsibilities in Indian Country.

“Katharine is currently Vice President of Environmental Services at NextEra Energy, Inc., and previously worked at the Department of the Interior during my first four years as President,” Trump said on January 11. “She helped us in our quest to make our Nation Energy DOMINANT, and was also an integral part of the team that produced our Historic “Salute to America” at the National Mall.”

Currently, Secretary Doug Burgum is the only Senate-confirmed nominee at Interior. He won bipartisan approval on January 30 but the Republican-controlled chamber has not considered any of his fellow departmental nominees in the nearly two months since then.

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A citizen of the Navajo Nation is being tapped to serve as Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs though it’s not the person who was publicly lobbying for the job.

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The pending Interior nominees include:

William “Billy” Kirkland, who was nominated to be Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs on February 3.
Leslie Beyer, who was nominated to be Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management on February 3.
William L. Doffermyre, who was nominated to be Solicitor, the highest-ranking legal official at the department, on February 3.
Andrea Travnicek, who was nominated to be Assistant Secretary for Water and Science on February 3.
Ned Mamula, who was nominated to be Director of the United States Geological Survey on February 11.
Kathleen Sgamma, who was nominated to be Director of the Bureau of Land Management on February 11.

The White House initially referred the nomination of Billy Kirkland, who is a citizen of the Navajo Nation, to the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. The record has since been corrected to reflect that he will be considered by the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, as has been the case since the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs position was established in 1977.

The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs has yet to announce a confirmation hearing for Kirkland. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), the Republican chair of the legislative panel, was expected to issue a statement about the nomination but has not publicly commented.

Burgum has not publicly commented on Kirkland’s leadership position either. He addressed a meeting of the National Congress of American Indians in Washington, D.C., for 45 minutes on February 12 but did not offer many details about his Indian Country agenda.

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Kirkland has told associates that he doesn’t plan on relocating to the nation’s capital from his home in Georgia until the end of the current school year. That would leave the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Bureau of Indian Education and the Bureau of Trust Funds Administration without Senate-confirmed leadership until May, June or possibly even later in the summer.

The confirmation hearing for MacGregor also includes James Danly, who has been nominated to serve as Deputy Secretary of Energy. Currently, Secretary Christopher Wright is the only Senate-confirmed leader at the Department of Energy, which includes the Office of Indian Energy Policy and Programs.

The April 2 hearing takes place at 10am Eastern in Room 366 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Notice

Hearing to Consider the Nominations of Ms. Katharine MacGregor to be Deputy Secretary of the Interior and Mr. James Danly to be Deputy Secretary of Energy (April 2, 2025)

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