GOP Takes Over House And Takes Down Secretary Haaland; Rigorous Grilling At Subcommittee Hearing Catches Her Flat-Footed, Plus: Another Round Please; Senator Hopes To Try Again To Limit Roundhouse Bar Hopping

Haaland and Zinke (Politico)

The national GOP went on the attack Tuesday when Secretary of Interior Deb Haaland stumbled during an appearance before the House Interior, Environment, Appropriations Subcommittee. 

RNC Research called her testimony "absolutely clueless" regarding the Green New Deal, a bill she co-sponsored as a New Mexico congresswoman. 

And they labeled her completely and totally dumbstruck" when responding to questions about the production of critical minerals which are vital to US national security. 

Haaland seemed nonplussed by her lack of knowledge of the questions thrown at her by the GOP congressmen, replying to them a number of times, saying, "thank you for the information, Congressman."

Former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, a Montana congressman who served under Trump for two years and resigned his cabinet post under an ethics cloud, challenged Haaland over whether the minerals should be sought in the US and not China and Russia. She replied that her department is working on identifying the minerals with the US Geological Survey. Video here. 

Another GOP congressman hammered away at the Green New Deal, asking whether Haaland supported the ban on fracking contained in the bill. She said she did when she was a congresswoman and said she was unaware of many other provisions of the bill because it was drafted several years ago. Video here. 

The Secretary has never aced committee testimony but the first two years of her term the Dems were in the House majority and provided her cover. Now the Republicans are in command and showing no mercy in trying to expose Haaland as uninformed, out of the loop on national policy and when she isn't, too far to the left.  

NEW REALITY 

Given the new reality Haaland may want to bone up more before future committee appearances or severely limit them as they will be used in the '24 election cycle. Also, her performance will be gauged more critically here as the 2026 gubernatorial election creates chatter that she is a possible candidate.

One of our longtime DC observers questioned whey Haaland's staff had not given her a briefing book to read from concerning the most important and complicated subjects that were bound to come up. "At least that would have evened the playing field some." He opined.

There was a human moment at the end of the hearing. Congressman Zinke, aware that he had scored heavy hits against the Secretary, the first Native American to hold the post, went up to her afterwards and said:  “I wear a hat, but it’s not cowboys and Indians, I’ll tell you.” Haaland laughed. “Thank you for clarifying that,” the Interior secretary told her predecessor.

CALLING ALL CONSTITUENTS

Long gone are the days when congressional representatives routinely held large in-person town hall meetings. The conversation and the crowds are too hot to handle. The favored way of constituent outreach is now the telephone town hall and ABQ Dem US Rep. Melanie Stansbury will host one tonight:

On Wednesday, March 29 at 6:30 p.m MT/8:30 p.m. ET, Rep. Stansbury (N.M.-01) will host her eleventh telephone town hall to give updates from Congress and speak directly with her constituents. Please RSVP here to receive dial-in information. 

ROUNDHOUSE BAR HOPPING

A favorite Senate drink

Talk about bending over backwards to let his colleagues off the hook. ABQ Dem Sen. Harold Pope does a fine job of it as he explains why his high-profile bill to limit the boozing of Senators at the Roundhouse  was greeted like a bad hangover:  

Pope's Senate Resolution didn't get a hearing before the Senate Rules Committee. He said he didn't know why but noted the committee had a full plate. "I know there were a lot of pressing matters. There's confirmations in [the Senate Rules Committee], a lot of bills. Sometimes things don't get heard, and it's not just my bill." Pope said he intends to resurrect his proposal--which would have prohibited senators from drinking alcohol before or during committee meetings and floor sessions--in next year's 30-day legislative session; however, he needs to research if he can introduce the measure during a shorter session. . . 

Is is true that when word spread through the Senate that Pope's bill was dead, cries of "I'll drink to that!" arose from the Senate floor? Perhaps, but some of the better stocked offices surely did banner business. 

If only they would put a special tax on that premium hooch the Senators enjoy. Heck, with that money we could diversify away from oil and gas. . .

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