US Senate approves first-ever Native American US Cabinet secretary

US Representative Deb Haaland has been confirmed as Secretary of the Interior, becoming the first Native American to lead a cabinet agency, Report informs, referring to Reuters.

Haaland became one of the first two Native American women elected to Congress in 2018. Her ascension to the cabinet followed weeks of campaigning by Native American tribes and environmental groups in support of her historic appointment.

She faced resistance from Republican lawmakers who grilled her at a two-day hearing last month about her involvement in pipeline protests, her support of the Green New Deal climate resolution, and the Biden administration’s pause on new federal drilling leases.

Haaland will oversee polices guiding use of 500 million acres of federal and tribal land, a fifth of the nation’s surface. A member of the Laguna Pueblo tribe, Haaland will also oversee the US government’s relationship with some 574 federally recognized tribal nations.