Indian Country will find a friend in
Sally
Jewell if she is confirmed as the next Secretary of the
Interior Department, tribal leaders were told this week.
Jewell, the top executive at
Recreational Equipment Inc., doesn't have much direct experience with tribes. But her very first meeting at DOI was with Kevin Washburn, the leader of the
Bureau of Indian Affairs.
"She wants to understand what we have done and what more we can do," Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, who will be stepping down later this month, told the
National Congress of American Indians on Tuesday.
"We are certain that Sally Jewell is going to be terrific," Washburn said today as he addressed NCAI's
2013
executive council winter session in Washington, D.C.
Rep. Danny Heck (D-Washington) is a new member of Congress but has been working on tribal issues in Washington, where Jewell hails, for decades. He too offered praise for the nominee.
"I know Sally Jewell very well," Heck told tribal leaders on Tuesday. "We are sending you a good one. She is going to be a good friend of Indian Country."
Jewell goes before the
Senate Energy and Natural
Resources Committee tomorrow for her confirmation hearing. She is the only witness.
Committee Notice:
FULL
COMMITTEE HEARING: To consider the nomination of Sally Jewell to be the
Secretary of the Interior (March 7, 2013)
Related Stories:
Senate committee to
hold hearing on Interior Secretary pick (2/26)
Native Sun News: Obama taps Sally Jewell for
Interior position (2/14)
Opinion: Sally Jewell
shares passions of Interior Department (02/11)
Tribes hail nomination of
Sally Jewell for Interior Department (02/07)
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