In 2019, Rep. Deb Haaland (D-N.M.) pressed a Trump administration Interior Department official about his history of ridiculing Native Americans over their religious beliefs regarding sacred lands. After downplaying his 2009 statement as one made as a private attorney representing private clients, William Perry Pendley, then-acting director of the Bureau of Land Management, said he was excited about the opportunity to work with Native American tribes especially to help them develop their oil, gas and mineral resources.

Haaland, a member of the Native American Pueblo of Laguna in New Mexico, reminded Pendley that tribal priorities dont start and stop with extraction.

There are tribes who want to protect their ancestral homelands because they feel like theyre under attack, she said. Its very clear that the energy part is whats important to you, and not the voices of the people.

Less than two years later, Haaland is President Joe Biden s pick to lead the Interior Department, the parent agency of the Bureau of Land Management and several other federal agencies. If confirmed, shell make history as the nations first-ever Indigenous cabinet member, and will lead a massive department that, in addition to managing federal lands, is tasked with upholding the governments trust and treaty obligations to tribal nations.

Elected tribal leaders, intertribal organizations and hundreds of green and progressive groups have celebrated her historic nomination as an important step toward confronting the U.S. governments ugly history toward Indigenous peoples and rebuilding relations with them.

Yet when it came time to question Haaland at her confirmation hearing earlier this week before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, not a single Republican on the panel inquired about her vision for supporting tribal sovereignty and empowering Indigenous communities. Instead, the GOP lawmakers bombarded her with questions about her personal view on oil and gas views that largely align with Bidens. They brought up tribes almost exclusively in the context of fossil fuel development.

The two-day hearing laid bare Republicans priorities, said Crystal Echo Hawk, the founder and executive director of Native-led advocacy group IllumiNative and an enrolled member of the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma.

They were only interested in furthering their agenda to ensure Rep. Haaland would continue to allow extractive industries to have free rein over the department, she told HuffPost via email. It is a reflection of what they fear about [her] she is not beholden to the oil and gas industry as they are.