Elizabeth Klein Nomination For No. 2 Interior Department Job Pulled After Murkowski Pushback

The White House has withdrawn the nomination of Elizabeth Klein as the deputy secretary of the Interior Department on Monday evening, Politico reported. The move reportedly follows opposition from Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska. The moderate Republican is crucial to Biden's legislative agenda, with the Senate split 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans and Vice President Kamala Harris holding the tie-breaking vote.

Klein, a progressive, has supported moving the American energy system toward clean energy. However, that agenda has clashed with that of Murkowski, who has sought to expand the oil and gas industry in her state. Reports said Klein was seen as a step too far for the agency by Murkowski.

Murkowski, who has faced censure from her state's GOP for her vote to convict former President Donald Trump in his second impeachment trial, was the only Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee to approve Deb Haaland (D-N.M.) as the first Native American interior secretary.

Politico reported, citing unnamed sources, that Murkowski floated the name of Tommy Beaudreau for a possible nomination as deputy secretary. The former Interior official in the Obama administration is being vetted for a possible nomination, the report said.

The White House or Murkowski's office has not yet commented on the reports. No official statement announcing the withdrawal of Klein's nomination has been released so far.

If the withdrawal of Klein's nomination becomes official, it will be the second failure by the Biden administration to pass one of its nominees through the Senate's confirmation process.

Earlier, Neera Tanden, who was nominated to lead the Office of Management and Budget, had withdrawn her nomination following opposition from multiple key senators over her past tweets that were harshly critical of several of them.

The White House hasn't named a new nominee in place of Tanden.