Latest news with #publiclands
Wall Street Journal
18 hours ago
- Politics
- Wall Street Journal
Outdoor Enthusiasts Fight Federal Land Sale in Trump Megabill
Outdoors groups are furiously attacking a provision in President Trump's 'one big, beautiful bill' that would still open up the West's vast public lands to a large sell off, after a previous attempt was stricken for procedural reasons. Sen. Mike Lee (R., Utah), chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, had recently included language in the Republicans' budget-reconciliation bill mandating the sale of up to 3.3 million acres to boost housing in the fast-growing region.
New York Times
18 hours ago
- Politics
- New York Times
A Conservative's Plan to Sell Public Lands Faces MAGA Pushback
Cameron Hanes is not a typical environmental advocate. An avid hunter and MAGA influencer, he recently boasted to his 1.7 million Instagram followers about killing a brown bear and turning its claw into a necklace. But in recent weeks, Mr. Hanes has used his platform to denounce a plan by Senator Mike Lee, Republican of Utah, to sell millions of acres of federal lands as part of President Trump's sprawling tax and spending bill. The advocacy from Mr. Hanes — and several other conservative hunters and anglers — underscores a growing rift within the Republican Party over how to manage the nation's public lands. 'I'm a Republican, and yes, I did vote for Trump,' Mr. Hanes said in a phone interview while hiking near his Oregon home. 'But I didn't vote for this. I didn't vote for selling millions of acres of public land.' Mr. Lee's proposal would require the Bureau of Land Management to sell as much as 1.225 million acres of public property across the American West. Proponents have said the region has a severe shortage of affordable housing and that developers could build new homes on these tracts. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Fox News
a day ago
- Politics
- Fox News
House Republican opposing proposed sale of public lands says he's still against Senate bill: 'I remain a no'
Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Mont., said in a Thursday post on X that he remains opposed to the Senate reconciliation measure. "I agree with my colleagues that the federal government has mismanaged federal lands for decades. But I don't agree with their solution. The solution is not to sell public lands. The solution is better management. Let's send legislation to POTUS desk to improve management and access. I remain a no on the senate reconciliation bill," the lawmaker noted. The president has been urging lawmakers to pass the measure. GOP Sen. Mike Lee of Utah has been pushing for the measure to include the sale of some federal land, while Zinke has been opposing the prospect. A Monday press release from the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee indicated that the public land sales provision of the measure had been flagged by the Senate parliamentarian. "Housing prices are crushing families and keeping young Americans from living where they grew up. We need to change that," Lee noted in a Monday night post on X. "Yes, the Byrd Rule limits what can go in the reconciliation bill, but I'm doing everything I can to support President Trump and move this forward," he noted. Zinke served as Interior secretary during a portion of President Donald Trump's first term in office.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Lee seeks to revise plan to sell public lands after parliamentarian excludes it from GOP policy bill
Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) said he will revise his plan for selling off public lands after the Senate's parliamentarian ruled it cannot move forward as part of the Republican tax and spending bill. Lee's initial legislation would have sold off millions of acres of Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management land in up to 11 states. However, the Senate's arbiter ruled the provision cannot move forward through the upper chamber's budget reconciliation process, which allows it to pass some limited provisions with a simple majority, avoiding the need to secure any Democratic votes. Lee, in a post on the social platform X, said he would revamp the plan. The new legislation will still sell off land owned by the Bureau of Land Management — but not that owned by the Forest Service. He also said he would 'SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCE' the amount of land in the bill, limiting it only to lands within 5 miles of a population center. Lee added he would seek to establish 'FREEDOM ZONES to ensure these lands benefit AMERICAN FAMILIES.' He did not say what that entails. He also said he would 'PROTECT our farmers, ranchers, and recreational users. They come first.' 'Yes, the Byrd Rule limits what can go in the reconciliation bill, but I'm doing everything I can to support President Trump and move this forward,' Lee added, referring to the Senate's procedural rule that prevents 'extraneous' measures from being included in reconciliation bills. Lee has said he wants to sell public lands and use them for housing as population growth means more people need homes. The moves received significant pushback from Democrats — as well as certain Republicans who oppose public land sales. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Revised GOP plan would sell up to 1.2M acres of public lands
A revised plan from Senate Republicans would sell off as much as 1.2 million acres of publicly owned lands, according to legislative text obtained by The Hill. The updated text would require the sales of between 0.25 and 0.5 percent of the 245 million acres currently owned by the Bureau of Land Management, or between 612,500 and 1.225 million acres. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), is spearheading the plan, which would be included in the GOP's megabill to advance much of President Trump's agenda. Lee has said he would revise his original plan, which would have sold off between 2.2 million and 3.3 million acres, after the Senate parliamentarian ruled it could not go inside the party's budget package. Lee's office did not immediately respond to The Hill's request for comment. The text obtained by The Hill only pertains to Bureau of Land Management lands, complying with Lee's promise to ax provisions in his original bill that would have also included National Forests. The text obtained by The Hill also makes further changes: It specifies that land that is sold must be used 'solely for the development of housing or to address any infrastructure and amenities to support local needs associated with housing.' It excludes federally protected land and land that is already being used for other purposes such as animal grazing. It also requires land sold to be within five miles of the 'the border of a population center.' When he announced the plan, Lee, who chairs the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said he wanted to sell the land in order to 'to expand housing, support local development and get Washington, D.C., out of the way of communities that are just trying to grow.' Lee's land sales plan has been met with significant pushback, including from Democrats who held a roundtable on Wednesday morning opposing it. 'Lands like these are supposed to belong to every single American,' said Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) 'Some of my colleagues are very serious about taking these places away and giving them to someone else…we will not let them sell our birthright to build luxury condos or second homes or to pay for tax cuts,' Heinrich added. The proposal is being included as part of a massive package being passed through a process known as 'reconciliation' that requires only a simple majority — sidestepping the need to include any Senate Democrats. However, the upper chamber has rules about what types of policies can be subject to this process, which evades the filibuster's 60-vote threshold. It's not immediately clear if the updated version will be allowed into the bill. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
