Nomination of Debra Anne Haaland

Floor Speech

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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.

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