WASHINGTON — Maine Sen. Susan Collins said Wednesday she will support New Mexico Rep. Deb Haaland to be Interior secretary, the first Republican senator to publicly back a nominee set to become the first Native American to lead a Cabinet agency.
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The announcement makes Haaland's confirmation by the Senate nearly certain and follows Haaland's endorsement last week by Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
Manchin, a moderate from West Virginia, had been publicly undecided through two days of hearings on Haaland’s nomination by President Joe Biden. Manchin caused a political uproar last month by announcing plans to oppose Biden’s choice for budget director, Neera Tanden, a decision that played a key role in Tanden's withdrawal on Tuesday.
Collins, a moderate who frequently sides with Manchin, said she differs with Haaland on a number of issues but appreciated her role in helping to lead House passage of the Great American Outdoors Act. The landmark law, co-sponsored by Collins in the Senate, authorizes nearly $3 billion on conservation projects, outdoor recreation and maintenance of national parks and other public lands.
Collins said she also appreciated Haaland’s support on issues important to Maine, such as Acadia National Park, “as well as her deep knowledge of tribal issues, which has earned her the support of tribes across the country, including those in Maine.''
Interior oversees the nation's public lands and waters and leads relations with nearly 600 federally recognized tribes.
The Senate energy panel is set to vote on Haaland's nomination Thursday. Several Republicans, including Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, the top GOP senator on energy, oppose Haaland, saying her opposition to fracking, the Keystone XL oil pipeline and other issues made her unfit to serve in a role in which she will oversee energy development on vast swaths of federal lands, mostly in the West, as well as offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska.
Barrasso said a moratorium imposed by Biden on oil and gas leases on federal lands “is taking a sledgehammer to Western states’ economies.? The moratorium, which Haaland supports, could cost thousands of jobs in West, Barrasso said.
Matthew Daly, The Associated Press 3/3/2021
The announcement makes Haaland's confirmation by the Senate nearly certain and follows Haaland's endorsement last week by Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
Manchin, a moderate from West Virginia, had been publicly undecided through two days of hearings on Haaland’s nomination by President Joe Biden. Manchin caused a political uproar last month by announcing plans to oppose Biden’s choice for budget director, Neera Tanden, a decision that played a key role in Tanden's withdrawal on Tuesday.
Collins, a moderate who frequently sides with Manchin, said she differs with Haaland on a number of issues but appreciated her role in helping to lead House passage of the Great American Outdoors Act. The landmark law, co-sponsored by Collins in the Senate, authorizes nearly $3 billion on conservation projects, outdoor recreation and maintenance of national parks and other public lands.
Collins said she also appreciated Haaland’s support on issues important to Maine, such as Acadia National Park, “as well as her deep knowledge of tribal issues, which has earned her the support of tribes across the country, including those in Maine.''
Interior oversees the nation's public lands and waters and leads relations with nearly 600 federally recognized tribes.
The Senate energy panel is set to vote on Haaland's nomination Thursday. Several Republicans, including Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, the top GOP senator on energy, oppose Haaland, saying her opposition to fracking, the Keystone XL oil pipeline and other issues made her unfit to serve in a role in which she will oversee energy development on vast swaths of federal lands, mostly in the West, as well as offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska.
Barrasso said a moratorium imposed by Biden on oil and gas leases on federal lands “is taking a sledgehammer to Western states’ economies.? The moratorium, which Haaland supports, could cost thousands of jobs in West, Barrasso said.
Matthew Daly, The Associated Press 3/3/2021
Susan Collins says she will support Deb Haaland for Interior secretary
By Veronica Stracqualursi, CNN
Sen. Susan Collins, a key moderate Republican from Maine, said Wednesday she will vote to confirm Democratic Rep. Deb Haaland as Interior secretary, further securing a likely successful confirmation for one of President Joe Biden's nominees.
By Veronica Stracqualursi, CNN
Sen. Susan Collins, a key moderate Republican from Maine, said Wednesday she will vote to confirm Democratic Rep. Deb Haaland as Interior secretary, further securing a likely successful confirmation for one of President Joe Biden's nominees.
© Tom Brenner/Pool/Getty Images WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 25: Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) attends the confirmation hearing for Vivek Murthy and Rachel Levine before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions committee February 25, 2021 on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. Murthy is nominated to be Medical Director in the Regular Corps of the Public Health Service ands U.S. Surgeon General and Levine is nominated to be Assistant Secretary in the Department of Health and Human Services. (Photo by Tom Brenner-Pool/Getty Images)
"After examining Representative Deb Haaland's qualifications, reviewing her hearing before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and meeting with her personally, I will vote to confirm her to be the Secretary of the Department of the Interior," Collins said in a statement.
Collins' backing, after Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin announced last week he would also vote to confirm, gives Haaland a greater likelihood at being approved by the Senate, which has a 50-50 partisan split. Collins is the first Republican senator to announce her support for Haaland to lead the Interior Department.
In her announcement, Collins said she appreciated Haaland's "willingness to support issues" important to Maine and her "deep knowledge of tribal issues."
She also pointed to Haaland's role shepherding the Great American Outdoors Act through the House as a Democratic congresswoman from New Mexico, arguing that it will be "beneficial to the Department's implementation of this landmark conservation law." Collins was a cosponsor of the legislation, which was signed into law last year.
"Representative Haaland promised to be bipartisan in her new role at the Department of the Interior, and I look forward to working with her," Collins said.
During her confirmation hearing last week, Haaland faced sharp questioning from Republican senators, who painted her as partisan and her views on public land use and fossil fuels as radical.
If confirmed, Haaland would become the first Native American Cabinet secretary and the first Native American to lead the Interior department.
So far, 13 of Biden's 23 Cabinet-level nominees -- several of whom would make history as the first woman or person of color to serve in their role -- requiring Senate approval have been confirmed.
But the slow and contentious process of getting Biden's nominees confirmed is leading progressive groups to question whether his nominees of color are facing a higher level of scrutiny than White male nominees of past administrations.
On Tuesday, Biden had his first major setback in filling his Cabinet as Neera Tanden withdrew her nomination to run the Office of Management and Budget. Tanden, who would have been the first South Asian woman to run OMB, faced fierce opposition from Senate Republicans and some Democrats over her past statements on social media, which some called sexist and hypocritical.
"After examining Representative Deb Haaland's qualifications, reviewing her hearing before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and meeting with her personally, I will vote to confirm her to be the Secretary of the Department of the Interior," Collins said in a statement.
Collins' backing, after Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin announced last week he would also vote to confirm, gives Haaland a greater likelihood at being approved by the Senate, which has a 50-50 partisan split. Collins is the first Republican senator to announce her support for Haaland to lead the Interior Department.
In her announcement, Collins said she appreciated Haaland's "willingness to support issues" important to Maine and her "deep knowledge of tribal issues."
She also pointed to Haaland's role shepherding the Great American Outdoors Act through the House as a Democratic congresswoman from New Mexico, arguing that it will be "beneficial to the Department's implementation of this landmark conservation law." Collins was a cosponsor of the legislation, which was signed into law last year.
"Representative Haaland promised to be bipartisan in her new role at the Department of the Interior, and I look forward to working with her," Collins said.
During her confirmation hearing last week, Haaland faced sharp questioning from Republican senators, who painted her as partisan and her views on public land use and fossil fuels as radical.
If confirmed, Haaland would become the first Native American Cabinet secretary and the first Native American to lead the Interior department.
So far, 13 of Biden's 23 Cabinet-level nominees -- several of whom would make history as the first woman or person of color to serve in their role -- requiring Senate approval have been confirmed.
But the slow and contentious process of getting Biden's nominees confirmed is leading progressive groups to question whether his nominees of color are facing a higher level of scrutiny than White male nominees of past administrations.
On Tuesday, Biden had his first major setback in filling his Cabinet as Neera Tanden withdrew her nomination to run the Office of Management and Budget. Tanden, who would have been the first South Asian woman to run OMB, faced fierce opposition from Senate Republicans and some Democrats over her past statements on social media, which some called sexist and hypocritical.
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