Deb Haaland confirmed as Joe Biden interior secretary, becomes first Native American to lead a cabinet dept
American politics witnessed a historic moment on Monday, March 15, when Deb Haaland got confirmed as the first-ever Native American interior secretary. The Senate voted 51-40 to confirm the Democratic congresswoman from New Mexico, who was serving her second term, to lead the interior department, which will play a crucial role in the Joe Biden administration on issues like climate change and conservation of nature. The confirmation of Haaland, a member of New Mexico’s Laguna Pueblo, was also symbolic as history has seen the interior department being used as a tool to oppress America’s indigenous people.
The department is also responsible to oversee government-to-government relations between the US and Native American tribes and from that perspective, too, Haaland’s confirmation is historically significant. The tribal communities were more than elated after Haaland was nominated for the key administrative post. “Indian country has shouted from the valleys, from the mountaintops, that it’s time. It's overdue,” Stephine Poston, a member of the Sandia Pueblo tribe, told NPR.
Haaland has made history earlier as well. In 2018, the former chair of the New Mexico Democratic Party became one of the first two Native American women elected to the Congress. However, her nomination to the interior department faced opposition from GOP lawmakers as well as industry groups that said Haaland’s position on various environmental issues was extreme. Montana Senator Steve Daines, who tried to block Haaland’s confirmation, said he was deeply concerned with the latter’s support on various radical issues that will hurt Montana -- it’s way of life, jobs and rural America.
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The Democrats were elated over Haaland’s confirmation. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said after the voting that history was made twice in a matter of a few minutes. He noted that Haaland was not only the first Native American interior secretary but also the first Native American Cabinet secretary. Last week, Schumer made a move to break a Republican blockade over Haaland’s nomination to lead the interior department and said with confidence that Haaland would be the first Native American Cabinet member of any agency as well as the first indigenous secretary of the interior department -- “a profoundly historic moment given the troubled relationship between the federal government and tribal nations”.
Haaland's confirmation also marked a win for the progressive Democrats who backed her nomination, including Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren. Haaland was one of the co-chairs of Warren's unsuccessful presidential campaign last year.
Haaland showed a moderate tone when GOP grilled her
During her stint in the Congress, Haaland often criticized the former Donald Trump administration’s deregulatory agenda and backed restrictions on support for fossil fuel developments on public land. She has also opposed hydraulic fracturing or fracking and is also one of the first lawmakers to back the Green New Deal which aims to address climate change and economic inequality.
President Biden, however, has not supported either the Green New Deal or ban on fracking and taken a more balanced stance to fossil fuel development on public land. He has also put a temporary pause on new oil and gas leases on land belonging to the federal authorities while reviewing the broader federal leasing program. Haaland, when questioned by the GOP lawmakers during her confirmation hearing over her hard stances, came up with a more moderate tone and emphasized time and again that as an interior secretary, she would try to accomplish her president’s environmental goals instead of her own.
