Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland

Breaking new ground

Deb Haaland, the nation’s first Native American secretary of the Department of the Interior, answers questions about priorities and values.

Bienvenidos: You have been lauded for the high number of bipartisan initiatives you introduced and shepherded during your first year in the U.S. House of Representatives. What are some examples?

Deb Haaland: In Congress, I introduced the most bills with bipartisan cosponsors compared to all House freshmen in 2019 and the second most in 2020. As chair of the Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands, I worked with my colleagues to shepherd the Great American Outdoors Act, which guaranteed full funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund, to the House floor for a successful bipartisan vote. I also worked with senators on both sides of the aisle to deliver COVID-19 funding for tribes. I successfully led the passage of the Not Invisible Act and Savanna’s Act, two bills aimed at addressing the missing and murdered Indigenous women’s crisis. And I successfully led the passage of the PROGRESS for Indian Tribes Act, which will enhance the ability of tribes to enter into and carry out compacting agreements [facilitating self-determination and self-governance].

B: How did serving on the Natural Resources Committee prepare you for your responsibilities at the Department of Interior?

DH: The House Natural Resources Committee has jurisdiction over many of the issues that the Interior manages and also has oversight responsibility over the department. Under Chair Raúl Grijalva’s leadership, we took an active role in addressing climate change and moved legislation through our committee to protect our public lands, address the national park maintenance backlog and ensure we leave a livable planet for future generations.

B: What are your priorities as secretary of the Interior?

DH: President Biden has set ambitious goals that will ensure America and the world can meet the urgent demands of the climate crisis while empowering our nation’s workers and businesses to lead a clean energy revolution. The department is hard at work to address the climate crisis, restore balance on public lands and waters, advance environmental justice and invest in a clean energy future.

B: Do you feel you bring unique perspectives to the Interior Department? How will they guide you?

DH: I’m not a stranger to the struggles many families across America face today — I’ve lived most of my adult life paycheck to paycheck. I have pieced together health care for me and my child as a single mom and at times relied on food stamps. It’s because of these struggles that I fully understand the role Interior must play in the president’s plan to build back better, to responsibly manage our natural resources to protect them for future generations — so that we can continue to work, live, hunt, fish and pray among them.

B: Some questions during your confirmation hearing focused on job creation and protection related to industrial and environmental issues. How can this combination coexist?

DH: I said during my confirmation that I will fight for every American job, and I meant it. The president has committed to making investments to create millions of family-supporting and union jobs in clean energy generation, energy efficiency, clean transportation, advanced manufacturing and sustainable agriculture across America.

Interior has a role to play, which includes mobilizing the next generation through a Civilian Climate Corps, which will work to restore and conserve our public lands, bolster community resilience and address the changing climate while putting good-paying union jobs within reach for more Americans, including women and people of color. We will also work to create jobs for skilled technicians and operators in some of the hardest-hit communities in the country, especially in coal communities, to plug oil and gas wells and to restore and reclaim abandoned coal, hard-rock and uranium mines. This program will create jobs while reducing leakage of toxic chemicals, methane and other wastes and preventing local environmental damage.

B: As the first Native American to serve as secretary of the Interior, how do you feel about being a role model for others and an advocate for consideration of Native American perspectives and values?

DH: The historic nature of my confirmation is not lost on me, but I know that it is not about me. Rather, I hope my service will be an inspiration for everyone — moving forward together as one nation and creating opportunities for all of us. I recognize that it’s my responsibility as the first Native American cabinet secretary to open the eyes of young Native people everywhere so that they know they can do anything they set their minds to. I will be leaving the ladder down so that they can climb it, and then boosting them up so they can stand on my shoulders and achieve their dreams.