Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said on March 3 she will support President Joe Biden’s nominee for Interior secretary, New Mexico Rep. Deb Haaland, making Collins the first Republican senator to back her candidacy. “Haaland promised to be bipartisan in her new role at the Department of the Interior, and I look forward to working with her,” Collins said in a statement. The announcement makes Haaland’s confirmation nearly certain after last week’s endorsement by Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who last month irritated his Democrat colleagues by declaring that he would oppose Biden’s choice for budget director, Neera Tanden, who has subsequently withdrawn from consideration. While Collins said that she and Haaland “certainly have differing views on some issues,” she touted Haaland’s support in the House for a conservation bill Collins co-sponsored, the Great American Outdoors Act, which authorizes nearly $3 billion on conservation projects, as well as the maintenance of public lands, …