General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums'She became an easy target': GOP opposition to Haaland rankles Native Americans
Republican senators opposed to Rep. Deb Haaland's nomination to be President Joe Biden's leader of the Interior Department are centering their resistance on what they call the New Mexico Democrat's "extreme views" on fossil fuels and use of federal lands.
But supporters of Haaland, who would be the nation's first Native American to serve in a presidential Cabinet, say they see a familiar pattern in the Republicans' rhetoric and their unusual move to voice their opposition even before her nomination hearing was scheduled. They say she's facing a level of criticism above and beyond the normal fiery Washington political rhetoric.
Being a minority person and being a person of color, it makes you wonder if she would get this treatment if she wasnt a person of color, if she wasnt Indian and if she wasnt a woman, said Montana state Sen. Shane Morigeau, a Democrat and a member of the Salish and Kootenai tribes, in an interview. She became an easy target because we havent gotten to this place in our country where we give especially women and people of color a fair shot.
Haaland, a member of the Laguna Pueblo, has been a sharp critic of fossil fuel development, a stance that has made her nomination among the more contentious of Bidens picks. And she may also face tough questioning from the Democratic chair of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Sen. Joe Manchin, who is the most pro-fossil fuel Democrat and whose opposition may have scuttled another Biden nominee, Neera Tanden.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/she-became-an-easy-target-gop-opposition-to-haaland-rankles-native-americans/ar-BB1dV3fY?li=BBnb7Kz
Here we go again.
2naSalit
(86,330 posts)Needs a good talkin' to.
dsc
(52,152 posts)arguably he won because of Lumbee votes.
cilla4progress
(24,718 posts)to make sure she gets the appointment!!!