WASHINGTON (TIP): In yet another first, President-elect Joe Biden   nominated a Native American  to be  the Interior Secretary.

If confirmed, Haaland, 60, would become the first Native American to serve as a Cabinet secretary. The pick is being cheered by progressives and would add to what Biden calls his “barrier-breaking” Cabinet.

Haaland, a member of the Laguna Pueblo people, has represented New Mexico’s 1st Congressional District, which comprises Albuquerque and many of its suburbs, since 2019. She is the chair of the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands. She and Rep. Sharice Davids of Kansas are the first Native American women to serve in Congress.

As interior secretary, Haaland would oversee an agency tasked with managing and conserving much of the country’s federal lands and natural resources, including national parks and tribal lands, which have had a fraught history with the federal government. Harland has long been popular among progressive Democrats. In 2016, when she was the chair of the New Mexico Democratic Party, she traveled to the protests against the Dakota Access pipeline near the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in North Dakota to show solidarity with the demonstrators. She also led an effort as her state’s party chair to divest the party from investments in Wells Fargo, over the bank’s ties to the pipeline.

Long thought to be a top contender for the post, Haaland received sterling praise as a potential Cabinet member earlier this week from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who lauded the congresswoman as an “excellent choice” who “knows the territory” after rumors emerged that Democratic House leaders were concerned about losing a member of their caucus because of the thin majority they hold in the chamber. Haaland had received the strong backing of many Native American groups and progressive organizations, and many lauded her expected selection Thursday. “With the historic appointment of Deb Haaland as Interior Secretary, Joe Biden chose the most qualified person and put a true movement progressive in his Cabinet,” Stephanie Taylor, the co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, said. “Deb’s selection was a top priority for the progressive movement. Thousands of PCCC members and many Native American, climate, women, and other progressive activists worked hard for this victory.”

If Haaland is confirmed, it would create a third House vacancy as Democrats will begin the new Congress with an already-slimmed majority.