Kate MacGregor parried questions Wednesday on understaffed national parks and selling federal lands in a public vetting of her nomination to be deputy Interior secretary.
MacGregor, an energy executive and alum of the first Trump administration, would be reprising her role as second in command at the sprawling public lands and energy department.
She sailed through the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee confirmation hearing Wednesday, mostly evading any head-on collisions with Democrats even as they pressed her on the administration’s contentious cuts and potential interest in offering public lands for sale.
Sen Angus King (I-Maine) told MacGregor the National Park Service is already operating understaffed and questioned the administration’s recent slashing of Interior jobs.
