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The Washington Post, New York Times, and Huffington Post are reporting that President-elect Joe Biden has chosen Congresswoman Deb Haaland of the Laguna Pueblo and first district of New Mexico to be the first-ever Native American Secretary of the Interior -- and the first Native American Cabinet Secretary.
As an Indigenous person active in progressive politics, I am over the moon. Biden's decision is a historic win for Indian Country, the environment, and progressives. The Congresswoman is perfect for the job.
As my friends at the PCCC said, "With the historic appointment of Deb Haaland as Interior Secretary, Joe Biden chose the most qualified person and put a true movement progressive in his Cabinet."
The PCCC will deliver this card to them.
I've interviewed Congresswoman Haaland and gotten to know her a bit over her last two years as a member of Congress. What's so exciting to me about her victory is that her story is so relatable.
Like many of our people, she lived on food stamps. She raised her daughter as a single mother. She started a salsa business on her reservation and she cooks for family and friends on traditional pueblo feast days. Like so many across the country, she's still paying off student loans. Unlike so many in the halls of power, she's one of us. Sometimes, Native folks lovingly call her 'Auntie Deb' on social media for exactly this reason.
As Secretary of the Interior, Haaland will bring real change to the agency charged with managing much of this nation's public lands, natural resources, and tribal affairs.
In Congress, she chairs the Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands, where she has exercised oversight over the agency she will now lead. She has introduced the most bills with bicameral support of any member of Congress, and in an era of partisan gridlock, she's seen three of her acts signed into law.
The Congresswoman is going to do great at the helm of Interior. That’s why I worked with tribal leaders, progressive activists, environmentalists, feminists and so many others to urge Biden to do the right thing and make history. I know we are all so thankful that he did.
Progressives played a leading role in this fight. Data for Progress, the think tank where I work, published the first list with Haaland for Secretary of Interior back in July. Senator Elizabeth Warren and the Progressive Change Institute, who sent a list of 400 recommended appointments to Biden, played a crucial role too.
As with Data for Progress's list, Haaland’s name was way high up on the recommendations put forward by the Progressive Change Institute. But many more slots have yet to be filled. You can make a tax-deductible donation to Data for Progress and the Progressive Change Institute here.
Thanks for being a bold progressive.
-- Julian Brave NoiseCat (@jnoisecat)
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