Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
WILMINGTON, Del. (Reuters) — President-Elect Joe Biden will nominate Rep. Deb Haaland to serve as his Interior Secretary, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Haaland, a Democratic congresswoman from New Mexico since 2019, would be the first Native American Cabinet secretary and the first to oversee the department, whose jurisdiction includes tribal lands.
Reuters reported Tuesday that Haaland was the leading candidate for the job, which would give her authority over a department that employs more than 70,000 people across the United States and oversees more than 20% of the nation's surface, including tribal lands and national parks like Yellowstone and Yosemite.
Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez applauds historic moment as Deb Haaland selected to lead the Department of the Interior under the Biden-Harris Administration pic.twitter.com/Twr9bZN65v
— Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez (@NNPrezNez) December 17, 2020
She has told Reuters she would seek to usher in an expansion of renewable energy production on federal land to contribute to the fight against climate change, and undo President Donald Trump's focus on bolstering fossil fuels output.
If nominated, Haaland would step down from her seat in the U.S. House, where Democrats already are facing a slim majority in 2021 after losing seats in the 2020 election.
(Reporting by Pete Schroeder and Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
© Copyright Thomson Reuters 2020
