Tribal Groups Celebrate Deb Haaland's Confirmation as First Native American Cabinet Head On 3/15/21 at 7:17 PM EDT Leaders of Native American tribal groups are celebrating the Senate confirmation of Deb Haaland as the new Secretary of the Interior. Haaland, a member of New Mexico's Laguna Pueblo tribe, once served as a Democratic Congresswoman for New Mexico. Because the Interior Secretary has a lot of direct involvement with Native American tribes and their territories, other tribal leaders are hopeful that her confirmation may help make Native American issues more prominent in the national agenda. "Tribes across the nation, we prayed this day would come. There's a lot of excitement. But there's still skepticism. There's a lot of healing that needs to be done," Kenneth Kahn, tribal chairman of the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians, told