The Senate voted 51 to 40 on Monday to confirm the congresswoman Deb Haaland from New Mexico to be secretary of the interior, making her the first Native American to occupy an office secretary position.
After the vote, Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer said at the Senate floor that he called his confirmation “a big step forward”.
“Now he creates a government that more incorporates all the wealth and diversity of this country,” said Schumer. “We have known for a long time that the Native American community has been mistreated and we have a long way to go.”
As head of the Interior Department, Haaland will head a department charged with overseeing and protecting the country’s public and tribal lands. Haaland, a member of the Pueblo de Laguna, will also work to restore trust between the country’s 574 federally recognized tribes and a department that has mistreated and neglected indigenous peoples.
Before the vote on Monday night, Schumer said Haaland is “making history twice”, citing his election victory to become a congresswoman and now his confirmation to head a federal department. Haaland, elected in 2018 together with Democratic Congresswoman Sharice Davids of Kansas, they were the first Native American women elected to Congress.
“Mr Haaland’s confirmation represents a giant step forward in creating a government that represents the wealth and diversity of this country because Native Americans have long been neglected in the cabinet and in so many other places,” added Schumer.
Tribal and progressive leaders pushed the Biden Administration to appoint Haaland to lead the Department of the Interior. During his opening speech at his confirmation hearing, Haaland acknowledged the historic nature of the nomination.
“The historical nature of my confirmation has not gone unnoticed, but I will say that it is not about me,” she said. “Instead, I hope this nomination will be an inspiration to Americans, moving forward together as a nation and creating opportunities for all of us.”
Haaland faced opposition from several Republican senators, who disagreed with his support for the Green New Deal and his opposition to fossil fuel projects and hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking. When asked about his opposition to hydraulic fracturing and fossil fuels during his confirmation hearing, Haaland told senators that he will approve President Joe Biden’s Biden agenda. Biden supports the ban on hydraulic fracturing on federal land, but opposes a comprehensive ban on hydraulic fracturing.
“I want to make sure that, if confirmed, we are looking into things and working to find the right balance,” Haaland told Republican Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming at his confirmation hearing. “We need to be concerned with both the environment and the fossil fuel infrastructure in your state and in other states. We need to balance these priorities ”.
Despite some opposition to his nomination, four Senate Republicans – Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan of Alaska, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Susan Collins of Maine – voted for confirmation.