President-elect Joe Biden will nominate New Mexico Dem Rep. Deb Haaland to be the Secretary of the Interior, the first recognized Native American who will hold a Cabinet post, the Washington Post reports.
A member of the Pueblo of Laguna, a federally-recognized tribe of the Pueblo Nation, Haaland will be responsible for management of federal lands, including tribal lands, and the resources they contain. Haaland chaired the tribe’s Development Corporation, which managed the commercial and economic growth of tribal lands, including gaming, real estate development and mineral rights. Although she graduated from the University of New Mexico law school, she never actively practiced law. She was elected to Congress in 2018 and served as Vice Chair of the House Committee on Natural Resources and as Chair of the Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands.