Biden picks first Native American as Cabinet sec. - source

President-Elect Joe Biden will nominate Representative Deb Haaland to serve as his Interior secretary, according to a person familiar with the matter, which would make her the first Native American Cabinet secretary and the first to oversee the department, whose jurisdiction includes tribal lands.

Reuters reported this week that Haaland was the leading candidate for the job, which would give the Democratic congresswoman from New Mexico since 2019 authority over a department that employs more than 70,000 people across the United States and oversees more than 20% of the nation's surface, including tribal lands and national parks like Yellowstone and Yosemite.

Rep Haaland has said that she would seek to usher in an expansion of renewable energy production on federal land and undo President Donald Trump's focus on bolstering fossil fuels output.

If confirmed by the senate, Haaland would step down from her seat in the U.S. House, where Democrats already are facing a slim majority in 2021 after losing seats in the 2020 election.