NEW YORK, NY – Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland traveled to New York to meet with tribal leaders and community members to highlight the Interior Department’s progress in strengthening Indian Country. Her visit underscored the investments in Indian Country made possible by President Biden’s Investing in America agenda and the Biden-Harris administration’s progress to empower tribal sovereignty, self-determination and prosperity.
Secretary Haaland met with tribal leaders from the Cayuga Nation, Oneida Indian Nation, Seneca Nation of Indians, Shinnecock Nation, Tonawanda Band of Seneca and Tuscarora Nation.
Throughout her visits, Secretary Haaland underscored the Department’s commitment to strengthening Indian Country. The President’s Investing in America agenda is deploying record investments to provide affordable high-speed internet, safer roads and bridges, modern wastewater and sanitation systems, clean drinking water, reliable and affordable electricity, good paying jobs and economic development in every tribal community. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law alone invests more than $13 billion directly in tribal communities across the country.
Under Secretary Haaland’s leadership, the Department has taken significant steps to advance diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA). In February, the Department release its comprehensive Equity Action Plan, an important step towards the Department’s efforts to meet the goals of President Biden’s Executive Order 14091, which charges federal agencies with proactively addressing the systemic barriers that impede equal opportunity for underserved communities. Secretary Haaland also established the first-ever DEIA Council to incorporate these practices into the Department’s work across its many bureaus.
