Biden Picks Deb Haaland For Interior Secretary

LOADING ERROR LOADING President-elect Joe Biden plans to nominate Rep. Deb Haaland, an enrolled member of the Pueblo of Laguna tribe, to serve as secretary of the interior. “The nomination of Rep. Deb Haaland ― a champion of the environment and of Native people ― heralds a new era of conservation, progress, and healing in the Department of the Interior that is long overdue,” Gussie Lord, a member of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin and managing attorney of Earthjustice’s Tribal Partnerships Program, said in a statement. But in comments to The New York Times this month, anonymous “Biden advisers” painted Haaland as unqualified for the job and instead pitched Michael Connor, a veteran of the Interior Department, as a better candidate. “Congresswoman Deb Haaland is one of the most respected and one of the best Members of Congress I have served with,” Pelosi said, adding that “if she is the President-elect’s choice for Interior Secretary, then he will have made an excellent choice.” Rep. Deb Haaland, an enrolled member of the Pueblo of Laguna tribe, would make history as the first Native American to lead the Interior Department.