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Ahead of Tuesday's hearing for Interior secretary nominee Deb Haaland, thousands of people are calling on senators to confirm her as America’s first Native American cabinet secretary.
More than 2,500 Montanans signed a petition aimed at Senator Steve Daines, who called Haaland a “radical” and threatened to block her nomination. The Billings Gazette takes on Daines in a blistering editorial this morning, noting that the policies Haaland supports, including the Green New Deal and stopping the Keystone XL pipeline, are also supported by Daines’s former Senate colleague Tom Udall.
“Would Daines have denounced him as a ‘radical?’” The Gazette asked before answering its own question. “We doubt it. We believe the vituperative nature of much of the GOP criticism is a dog-whistle reserved for a candidate of Haaland’s tribal status — and gender.”
Public lands package comes to House floor
As Haaland appears before the Senate, the House will take up a large package of public lands bills on Tuesday. The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel notes that two of the bills in the package would protect more than 1 million acres in Colorado, including Rep. Joe Neguse’s 400,0000-acre CORE Act, and Rep. Diana DeGette’s 660,000-acre Colorado Wilderness Act.
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...as an indigenous woman, [Haaland will] bring a big picture perspective to the administration we've never had. Senator Daines is missing the boat by siding with oil and gas companies instead of a million Montanans.”
