The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“Nomination of Debra Anne Haaland (Executive Session)” mentioning Steve Daines was published in the Senate section on pages S1484-S1488 on March 11.
Of the 100 senators in 117th Congress, 24 percent were women, and 76 percent were men, according to the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
Senators' salaries are historically higher than the median US income.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
Nomination of Debra Anne Haaland
Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, on Monday, the Senate will vote on the nomination of Congresswoman Deb Haaland to serve as Secretary of the Interior. I have had a chance to vote on a number of nominations over the years. I want to tell the Senate that, on Monday, the Senate can make history.
The Congresswoman--and she faced some strong questioning in the committee--understands that protecting public lands and boosting rural communities and jobs are two sides of the same coin. Too often, in the debates in Washington, DC, they really involve something resembling false choices. You can either be for jobs or you can be for protecting your treasures. The Congresswoman understands that those two are not mutually exclusive and that, in the West, particularly when you look at our exciting recreation economic engine, this is a chance to really generate more jobs, protect treasures, and enhance our quality of life.
Now, I recognize that there have been powerful interest groups that try, for example, to protect the interests of big oil companies at taxpayer expense, at the expense of clean air and clean water, and, as I say, at the expense of everybody who wants to get outside. I know that part of the debate is propping up a dirty environmental policy and declining industry that, mostly, adds to the current climate crisis.
In the long run, what we need to do is find fresh ways to bring Americans together around areas, particularly for rural communities, that are going to bridge the urban-rural divide, reduce inequality in America, and be a long-term solution for rural economies. The Congresswoman, our nominee on Monday, knows that there is a better way to protect and create rural jobs, and I will give you just one example.
Congressman Neguse and I have introduced a major piece of legislation to create the 21st Century Civilian Conservation Corps. Our legislation would create thousands of jobs in rural America, and these workers would help to preserve public lands and prevent the kind of massive wildfires America has seen in recent years.
What I can say to colleagues is that a major effort like this will create scores and scores of jobs for local businesses and local vendors. Certainly, we are talking about the local hardware store, chainsaw outlets, and those who sell logging equipment. There are going to be lots of opportunities for private sector employment stemming from the arrival of the 21st Century Civilian Conservation Corps. We will also have a lot more opportunity for outdoor recreation, boosting tourism revenues, and fewer communities reduced to ash by wildfire--a win all around.
Now, the Congresswoman also talked to us about another priority for rural America, and that is helping Native American Tribes across the country build and repair drinking water infrastructure and that she would make it a priority to help Tribes where there is a lack of drinking water, threatening the health of those Tribal members. This is especially a problem in Oregon, wherein the Warm Springs Tribe has burst pipes and regular ``boil water'' notices, but I will tell you that Warm Springs is not alone in this country, and the Congresswoman understands. She said: Water is a basic human right.
The next point that I want to touch on with respect to this exceptional Member of Congress is that she really has a track record of bringing parties together with differing views. Now, I know some Members of the Senate have gone to great lengths to say: Oh, she is some kind of far-out radical.
Colleagues, that just doesn't pass the smell test. She has been a leader in generating bipartisan support for efforts in the House. She has one of the most conservative Members of the House singing her praises in coming before the committee, and I went several times just because I wanted to hear the Congresswoman address this crucial issue of how important rural jobs are, how rural jobs and protecting the environment are not mutually exclusive, and how you can bring people together. On each of these points, she conveyed the kinds of views that make her an ideal choice for serving as the Secretary of the Interior.
I was also interested in her thoughts on a major piece of legislation for rural Eastern Oregon. It is the Malheur County Owyhee legislation, which seeks to resolve differences in this extraordinary part of my State, the Owyhees--differences that have literally gone on for decades. We brought together ranchers and Tribes and environmental folks, and we said: Here again, what we can do is create rural employment. We can protect the ag economy and the farmer's way of life. We can also create great opportunities for recreation in that part of the State. The Congresswoman got it in a second. She said that is exactly what we need to do--build models that bring farmers and ranchers together with environmental folks and scientists who understand the nature of some of these challenges from a scientific and climate standpoint.
I will tell you that I have gone to more than my share of nomination hearings, but what I saw was a nominee with exceptional backbone and decency, who was being clear, being straightforward. At times, it was a little hard to take because the questioning, I thought, was not just strong but over the line. At the same time, the Congresswoman showed her calm, her knowledge, and her perseverance in the face of this.
I am just going to close with this.
Colleagues, I have tried to kind of make my calling card a public service of bringing people together, finding fresh ideas, and the very kinds of approaches that the Congresswoman talked about during two, I felt, very draining kinds of sessions. My view is that it is critical for the Senate to be able to recognize there are going to be disagreements. The Senate is made up of a lot of people with very strong views, and what I believe we ought to insist on of all candidates is a level of decency and respect for all concerned. The Congresswoman showed that in the face of some very strong questioning.
When I was done, I said: Not only am I going to support you because of your views on rural jobs and your recognizing that protecting jobs and the environment are not mutually exclusive--that we can do both--
but because of your track record of bipartisanship, featuring Congressman Young's coming here.
Also, I come to the floor of the U.S. Senate to say that I was there for both sessions, and I saw an elected official, a Congresswoman, handle a lot of very tough, strong questions, and at every level, she tried to stick to the facts. She tried to make the case for what she thought was a great opportunity, especially in the West, but that she would be in all of the communities that the Department of the Interior is responsible for and that everyone would get a fair shake. Every Democrat and every Republican would get a fair shake.
That is the kind of fundamental decency we want in a nominee.
And I will close with this: It sure stands in sharp contrast to what we saw over the last 4 years, two Secretaries, essentially, infamous rather than famous, who too often were willing to set aside the science and support the powerful and those who were going to walk away making quick dollars at the expense of the environment.
People of this country now have a chance, almost like you take a dilapidated stage out of an auditorium, and now we have got a chance to start anew. We have got a nominee who is qualified. She is fair. She is going to concentrate on bringing people together, and she is going to make history.
It is long, long, long past time, colleagues, that this country had a Native American leading the Interior Department.
So I pledge after that second hearing, I am going to come back on the floor and not just vote for her but speak for her because her decency, her thoughtfulness--I see my friend from New Mexico here--that sense of caring and that fairness in the face of some very, very aggressive questioning makes me feel that this is a very special sort of leader.
Congresswoman Haaland has my full, unqualified support, and westerners are looking forward very much to working with her, get her to Oregon, and see what our challenges are.
I urge all Members of the Senate on Monday to support the historic nomination of Congresswoman Haaland to head the Interior Department.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. King). The Senator from Wyoming.
Mrs. LUMMIS. Mr. President, I thank Senator Daines for his leadership on this issue.
The only thing the previous speaker and I have in common is agreeing that it is high time that we had a Native American woman to lead the Department of the Interior.
On behalf of the people of Wyoming, I am opposing President Biden's nomination of Congresswoman Haaland to serve as Secretary of the Interior.
As Secretary, she will continue the job-killing, anti-energy attack on Wyoming's livelihood that President Biden started during his first week in office.
Let's recap just how bad President Biden's Executive actions are for my State.
A University of Wyoming analysis found that Wyoming stands to lose nearly $13 billion in tax revenue if we don't lift the Biden ban on new oil and gas leasing and drilling on Federal lands. To put this in context, $13 billion in tax revenue would educate 60,000 Wyoming students from kindergarten through high school graduation. It would fund the University of Wyoming for the next 59 years. It would fund our public safety and corrections budget for the next 68 years. And it would fund the Wyoming Department of Health for the next 26 years. These are real numbers, and the Biden ban is having real consequences.
In Wyoming, we put the tax revenue from Federal land leases to use educating our kids, caring for the sick, and funding public infrastructure.
Maybe this sounds like my complaint is just with President Biden. That is how Congresswoman Haaland would have you see it. Congresswoman Haaland says that she will simply be following the administration's orders and implementing its agenda at the Interior Department. This isn't exactly encouraging for a number of reasons.
The White House's very first action in implementing their climate change agenda is on track to cost my home State a whopping $13 billion in revenue. I shudder to think what their next action will cost us, especially with Department heads committed to blindly enacting the Biden agenda without consideration for the extraordinary impacts it will continue to have on energy States like Wyoming.
Second, Secretaries have an incredible amount of power to make decisions on how an administration's agenda gets implemented. Based on her own public statements and actions, Congresswoman Haaland is more radical in her positions than President Biden.
None of these facts are particularly encouraging to folks in Wyoming and the West who will be devastated by the policies that Congresswoman Haaland plans to champion. What we need is a Secretary who understands the issues that westerners face. We need someone who knows the ways that States like Wyoming are contributing to America's energy independence and doing so in increasingly environmentally friendly ways. Banning permitting on Federal lands in Wyoming means banning access to 68 percent of Wyoming's minerals. For our State and our country to remain energy independent, we need someone at the Department of the Interior who recognizes that if we shut down producers at home, we are only increasing the power of polluters like Russia and China abroad.
Conservatives are regularly attacked as anti-science and anti-
environment. This couldn't be further from the truth. I can tell you there are no greater stewards of our land than the people who actually work it, be it farmers, ranchers, or energy producers. We care more about the land and natural resources than just about anyone. It is our livelihood.
But it is more than that. It is our way of life. We know that responsible care for the land means that we have to have a healthy give-and-take with the land.
In Wyoming, we support both energy protection and conservation, fossil fuels and clean energy technologies. Wyoming leads the Nation as the biggest net energy supplier at the same time that we are driving the future of carbon capture and utilization technology.
Representative Haaland and the Biden administration claim their ban on leases supports the environment, but this ban actually hurts environmental conservation efforts. Energy development on public lands helps to fund conservation, including the Land and Water Conservation Fund to the tune of billions of dollars.
Additionally, since 2000, the United States has had the largest absolute decline in emissions of any country. We did this while at the same time rising to become the world's top energy producer. The truth of the matter is, you can be both environmentally friendly and energy friendly. In Wyoming, we are doing both. Under the Biden and Haaland administration, we will do neither.
I want to add one more thing. I recognize the longstanding connection of Native Americans to the land. Representative Haaland has that connection, and I honor her heritage and appreciate how significant the nomination of a Native American to lead the Department of the Interior is to the Tribes and to indigenous people. But there is no connection between her heritage and her support of the Green New Deal and attacking oil and natural gas production as a means to address climate change. If our goal is to reduce emissions, then our focus should be on clean air, not attacking energy production.
We can achieve our environmental goals through things like carbon capture while remaining energy independent.
For these reasons, I urge my colleagues to oppose Representative Haaland's nomination to serve as Secretary of the Interior.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Mexico.
Mr. HEINRICH. Mr. President, what is the status of the floor?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senate is considering the Haaland nomination.
Mr. HEINRICH. Mr. President, I rise today in support of my colleague in the New Mexico congressional delegation, my Representative in the House of Representatives, and President Joe Biden's nominee for Secretary of Interior, Congresswoman Deb Haaland.
Congresswoman Haaland is a member of the Pueblo of Laguna. She is what we like to call in New Mexico a 35th-generation New Mexican.
As many have noted, she will make history as the first-ever Native American Cabinet Secretary, something that, frankly, should have happened a long, long time ago in this country.
Deb also has lived experience--as a single mother, as a small business owner, as a Tribal administrator--experiences that will serve her well and bring real representation to President Joe Biden's Cabinet.
She grew up in a military family. Her father was a decorated Marine combat veteran, and her mother is a Navy veteran. She grew up like a lot of kids with parents in the military, moving frequently, actually attending 13 different public schools over the course of her childhood.
Before being elected to Congress, she owned her own business, she was the chair of the board of a tribally owned business, and also served as Tribal administrator for the Pueblo of San Felipe.
Thanks to all of that experience, Congresswoman Haaland knows firsthand how the decisions that we make here in Washington, and particularly in the Interior Department, affect communities across the country, especially in Tribal communities and rural Western States.
As Representative of the First District of New Mexico, my former district, Congresswoman Haaland has served as vice chair of the House Committee on Natural Resources and the chair of the Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands, a position where she made us very proud.
As a committee leader, she routinely demonstrated her commitment to working across party lines.
Of all the Members of Congress newly elected in 2018, she introduced the most bills with bipartisan cosponsors. She has always shown the ability to bring people together, something evidenced by her introduction in our committee by Congressman Don Young, Republican of Alaska.
She has an open door. She has an open mind and will listen and consult with a diverse range of stakeholders to try and build real consensus.
I am confident that she is the leader that we need at Interior to take on the important work of restoring our landscapes, opening up new outdoor recreation opportunities for all Americans, and putting our public lands to work in confronting the climate crisis that too many of our colleagues have long ignored.
Americans want the Department of the Interior to create more equitable access to our public lands, to stand for environmental justice, to find real solutions for the climate crisis, to protect wildlife and clean water, and support rural economic development.
Many of us here in this body--in the Senate--demonstrated just last year, when we passed the historic and bipartisan Great American Outdoors Act, that making conservation and outdoor recreation a key part of our national economic recovery is a goal that has the ability to unite us all, Republicans and Democrats.
Implementation of that new law will allow us to put many Americans back to work repairing our campgrounds, repairing our trail systems, building new visitor centers, and Congresswoman Haaland is eager to lead that work.
She is also uniquely qualified to help us restore the Department of the Interior's nation-to-nation relationship with Tribal nations and to help Indian Country recover and rebuild from COVID-19.
The Interior Department will play a leading role in implementing President Biden's American Rescue Plan in Indian Country. That historic rescue package, which the Senate just passed over the weekend--and I would point out did not have a single Republican vote--includes more than $31 billion in emergency support for Indian Country.
Let me put that in perspective. That represents the single greatest investment in Indian Country in American history--in American history.
This emergency support is desperately needed in Tribal communities. Over the past year, American Indians and Alaska Natives infected by COVID-19 have been hospitalized at a rate four times higher than White Americans and have died from the disease at nearly twice the rate. That is not just some statistic. I know firsthand because of the people I know and have lost in Indian Country.
On top of these unacceptable public health outcomes, Tribal communities have also been disproportionately impacted by the educational and economic devastation of this past year--the lack of broadband, for example.
These disparities reflect the persistent inequities that are the direct result of decades of chronic underinvestment by Congress in Indian Country. That is why the American Rescue Plan includes $20 billion in emergency funds for Tribal governments that have taken on enormous, unprecedented costs to protect the health and safety of their members. It also includes billions of dollars of investment in Indian Country to expand access to healthcare, education, transportation, housing, and even essentials that many of us just take for granted, things like broadband, like internet, like electricity or water.
The Senate urgently needs to take up Congresswoman Haaland's nomination to lead the Department of the Interior so that Tribes will finally have the partner they need in effectively implementing the American Rescue Plan and to help them steer their communities out of this perilous moment.
Finally, it is unfortunate, frankly, that this needs to be said, but I do need to take a moment to address characterizations of Congresswoman Haaland that were raised by some of my colleagues in the Energy and Natural Resources Committee that were neither accurate nor, frankly, appropriate to the kind of debate that we have in that committee.
I was disappointed by the tenor of the debate in our committee, as some of my colleagues described Congresswoman Haaland as ``radical'' or as ``extreme'' for holding policy views that fall well within the mainstream and fairly represent many of her constituents--I would say the vast majority of her constituents.
As a westerner, Congresswoman Haaland well understands that confronting the climate crisis, not denying it, and transforming our economy will not come without costs. We need to be honest about that. That is especially true for fossil fuel workers, including many of our fellow New Mexicans, who have long powered our economy and deserve our respect and support. But we need to be thorough on the details and thoughtful in preparing our traditional energy communities for a transition to the clean energy future that the market has already told us is coming--is here--and we need to be honest with them.
I am absolutely certain that Congresswoman Haaland will be a true partner to Western States like New Mexico, Alaska, Colorado, Montana, and Wyoming as we navigate this challenging transition.
As we confront the climate crisis that is already an existential threat to our land and water resources and the communities that depend on those resources in the West, we must diversify our economy. We must invest in those communities and remain a global leader in producing and exporting energy.
Despite the objections that have been raised against her nomination and the holds that have unfairly held up her confirmation, I am confident in Congresswoman Haaland's commitment to work with every single one of us on these pressing challenges, and I am eager for the Senate to finally take up Congresswoman Haaland's confirmation so that she can get to work protecting our natural heritage for future generations.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Wyoming.
Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, today the Senate is debating the nomination of Deb Haaland, a Member of Congress, to serve as Secretary of the Interior. If confirmed, she will be the first Native American Cabinet member in U.S. history. This is a historic moment, and it should be recognized.
I want to be very clear with you. Representative Haaland's policy views and lack of substantive answers during her nomination hearing, in my opinion, disqualify her for this job.
In May of 2019, Representative Haaland said unequivocally in an interview with The Guardian: ``I am wholeheartedly against fracking and drilling on public lands.'' On her campaign website, she stated she wanted to ``keep fossil fuels in the ground.'' On the same site, she pledged to ``vote against all new fossil fuel infrastructure,'' period.
I, along with many western Senators, have consistently opposed nominees who hold such views, and in my opinion and the opinion of my constituents, these views are extreme.
Representative Haaland's views aren't just statements; they are backed up by legislation that she has cosponsored. As a Member of Congress, she was a day-one cosponsor of the Green New Deal. Now we are talking about destructive legislation that would not just overhaul American energy but would impact almost every sector of society and cause great harm to America's economy. That bill was so extreme that when it was brought here to the Senate floor, it received no support. None.
She also cosponsored legislation to provide permanent Federal protections for the grizzly bear. I believe that legislation is also extreme, and I will tell you why.
The legislation that she proposed as a Member of the House completely disregards the scientific conclusions of the Bush administration, the Obama administration, and the Trump administration. How many things can we name that all three of those Presidents agreed upon? But the three of them did. They all concluded--the Obama administration, the Bush administration, and the Trump administration concluded that it was time to take the grizzly bear off the endangered species list.
Both Democratic and Republican Interior Departments determined that the grizzly bear was fully recovered, but Representative Haaland has chosen instead to ignore the science and the scientists of the very Department that she is now nominated to lead. Representative Haaland's policy views are squarely at odds with the mission of the Department of the Interior. That mission includes taking species off of an endangered species list when they are recovered, and the grizzly bear is fully recovered.
That Department also manages our Nation's oil, gas, and coal resources and does it in a responsible manner, not eliminating access to them completely.
Just as troubling as her policy views were her answers to questions during the confirmation process. She struggled or refused to answer the basic questions any nominee for the Department of the Interior would be expected to know and answer. She was unwilling or unable to respond to questions about the Department, about resource policy, and about the laws that she was asked to implement.
I asked her why the Biden administration wouldn't just let energy workers keep their jobs. She had no good answer.
American jobs are being sacrificed in the name of the Biden agenda, and Representative Haaland wouldn't defend it--couldn't defend it. Senator Risch had to ask her multiple times if she supported shutting down the Keystone Pipeline before she admitted that she did. He then asked her multiple times why she thought that was a good idea, and she never really gave an answer.
Her written answers to the questions for the record were equally vague and unacceptable. In one response to a question of mine, she refused to acknowledge that the United States has higher environmental standards for oil and for gas production than Russia or Nigeria--would not acknowledge that.
The American people deserve straight answers from a potential Secretary about the law, about the rules, and about the regulations that are going to affect so many lives and livelihoods. She gave very few of those at her nominating hearing and in her written responses.
Representative Haaland's extreme views, cosponsorship of catastrophic legislation, and lack of responsiveness disqualify her from this important position as Secretary of the Interior. If she is allowed to implement her Green New Deal-inspired policies at the Department of the Interior, the results for America's energy supply and economy will be catastrophic.
So I cannot support and will not support her nomination, and I urge other Senators also to vote against the nomination.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. MANCHIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. MANCHIN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to speak for 3 minutes.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. MANCHIN. Mr. President, I am pleased to speak today on the nomination of Representative Debra Haaland to be the Secretary of the Interior. Her nomination was carefully considered by the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, which I am privileged to chair.
Her hearing went well, and it went for 2 days. Every member of the committee questioned her. Most asked her two rounds of questions, and some asked three. We then asked her 70 pages of questions for the record--nearly 300 questions, many with multiple subparts.
The committee questioned her closely on her beliefs, her opinions, the President's policies, and what she will do if confirmed. In the end, the committee voted to report her nomination favorably, 11 to 9. I am proud to have voted to report her nomination, and I am proud to speak in favor of her confirmation today.
While I may not personally agree with some of Congresswoman Haaland's past statements and policy positions, as Secretary she will be carrying out President Biden's agenda, the agenda that the voters elected President Biden to pursue.
At her hearing, she confirmed that she and the administration recognize that our country will remain dependent on fossil fuels for years to come, and a transition to a cleaner energy future must come through innovation, not elimination.
She also affirmed her strong commitment to bipartisanship. She understands the need to work across the aisle to find the bipartisan solutions needed to address the diverse needs of our country and has demonstrated that she can do so effectively.
I was also deeply impressed by the strong endorsement she received by Congressman Don Young, for whom I have the utmost respect. Don Young has been in Congress long enough to be able to read people and know their heart and soul. He took the time and trouble to appear before the committee and testified to the productive working relationship he has had with Congresswoman Haaland and her willingness to work with him on important issues. That meant a lot to me, and I hope it will also resonate with my colleagues.
President Biden is in perhaps the most difficult position a modern-
day President has ever been in, bringing us back from the brink after January 6. That day changed me, and I feel strongly that with the deep divisions running through our country and the Halls of Congress today, we have to have people who have demonstrated they have the temperament and willingness to reach across the aisle. Congresswoman Haaland has demonstrated she does and she will.
As the President works to bind together a nation split by deep political, racial, social, and economic divisions, he is also trying to assemble a Cabinet that reflects the rich diversity of our Nation, one that looks like America. And 230 years after Washington called his first Cabinet meeting, it is long past time to give a Native American woman a seat at the Cabinet table.
For these reasons, I support Deb Haaland's nomination and will vote to report her and to support her, and I look forward to working with her to protect our public lands and ensure the responsible use of our natural resources in the most bipartisan manner. I strongly support her nomination. I urge all of my colleagues to vote to invoke cloture today and to confirm her nomination next week.
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