By Tanya Metaksa
Tanya Metaksa
Contributing Editor
On February 23 and 24 Biden’s nominee for Interior Secretary, Representative Deb Haaland, faced the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, chaired by Senator Manchin.
Most of the Republican Senators questioned her about the Keystone pipeline and fracking and her answer to their questions was to say she would support President Biden’s agenda.
However, she is and will be a disaster for gun owners and hunters. She has been nominated based on her race and her complete allegiance to the Democrat party. She rose to political power as a community organizer for New Mexico Native Americans. As a result, she became the Democrat nominee for Lieutenant Governor of New Mexico in 2014.
After she lost the election, she became the Chair of the Democrat party in New Mexico. She then ran successfully for election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2018 after the incumbent Democrat Representative ran for Governor. Her Congressional District is a reliable Democrat district and her victory in the general election was almost guaranteed. She was easily reelected in 2020.
Her two plus years in Congress have been focused on Indian Affairs. She has no background in issues facing the Interior Department and is obviously anti-gun by her votes in favor of all the gun control measures that were passed in the 116th Congress (2019-2020).
At the Department of Interior, she will be in charge of a government agency that not only is in charge of three offices of tribal affairs, but in charge of 500 million acres of public land and how all Americans utilize and enjoy that land. She does not have the background to be Interior Secretary, she probably has the background to be in charge of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. However, she was nominated because she is a Democrat Party hack who happens to be a member of the Laguna Pueblo tribe and as she says “I will support President Biden’s positions.” Our public lands deserve better.
