The Senate voted 51 to 40 on Monday to confirm the congressman Deb Haaland from New Mexico to become Secretary of the Interior, making her the first Native American to hold a cabinet secretary.
Following the vote, Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer said on the Senate floor that she called her confirmation a “huge step forward.”
“Now it is creating a government that more embodies the full wealth and diversity of this country,” said Schumer. “We have known for so long that the Native American community was mistreated and that we still have a long way to go.”
As head of the Ministry of the Interior, Haaland will lead a department to oversee and protect the country’s public and tribal lands. Haaland, a member of Pueblo of Laguna, will also work to restore trust among the country’s 574 federally recognized tribes and a branch that has mistreated and neglected the indigenous population.
Before Monday night’s vote, Schumer said Haaland was “making history twice,” citing her election victory to become a congressman and now her confirmation to lead a federal chapter. Haaland, elected in 2018 along with Democratic Congressman Sharice Davids from Kansas, were the first Native American women to be elected to Congress.
“The confirmation of Representative Haaland is a giant step forward in creating a government that represents the full wealth and diversity of this country, as Indians have been neglected at the cabinet level and in so many other places for far too long,” added Schumer.
Tribe leaders and progressives pushed the Biden administration Haaland to head the Internal Affairs Department. During her opening speech at her confirmation hearing, Haaland acknowledged the historic nature of the nomination.
“The historical nature of my affirmation has not been lost, but I will say it is not about me,” she said. “Rather, I hope this nomination would inspire Americans, who would move forward together as one nation and create opportunities for all of us.”
Haaland faced opposition from several Republican senators, who disagreed with her support for the Green New Deal and her opposition to fossil fuel projects and hydraulic fracturing, known as fracking. When questioned at her hearing about her opposition to fracking and fossil fuels, Haaland confirmed to senators that she will endorse President Joe Biden’s Mr Biden’s agenda. Mr. Biden supports a federal ban on fracking, but opposes a blanket ban on fracking.
“I want to make sure that when I get confirmed that we’re looking at things and working to strike the right balance,” Haaland told Republican Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming in her confirmation hearing. We should care as much about the environment as we care about the fossil fuel infrastructure in your state and other states. We have to balance those priorities. ‘
Despite some opposition to her nomination, four Senate Republicans – Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham and Maine’s Susan Collins – voted for confirmation.