A controversial proposal to revoke the Republican tax and spending bill Monday for violating Senate rules, selling millions of acres of public land including large swaths of California, including a large amount of California.
Senator Mike Lee (R – UTAH) proposed a mandate to sell 3.3 million acres of public land managed by the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Administration for the stated purpose of meeting housing needs – the intention is that the opponent does not believe the language guarantees this purpose in this provision.
Senate member Elizabeth MacDonough later on Monday advised government agencies to interpret the rules of procedure, and he determined that the proposal was not convened under the Byrd Rule, which prevented irrelevant provisions in the budget in the settlement bill.
Initially, the move appeared to be Lee's plan, which caused a bipartisan backlash. But Lee, chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, landed on social media platform X, saying the fight is not over yet.
“Yes, the Bird Rules limit what can be done in the settlement bill, but I'm doing everything I can to support President Trump and move forward,” Lee wrote in an article on Monday night.
In the post, he outlined changes, including demolishing all forest service land and limiting qualified land-managed land to areas within a five-mile population center radius. He wrote that housing prices were “destroying young families” and suggested that the changes he proposed would alleviate such economic barriers.
Utah's Deseret News reported that Lee submitted a revised proposal Tuesday morning and proposed new restrictions Tuesday morning.
Environmentalists and public land advocates celebrate MacDonald's decision to reject Lee's proposal, even as they worked for the ongoing battle.
“This is a major victory for public land,” Jennifer Rokala, executive director of the Western Priority Center, said in a statement. “Thankfully, Senate members saw Senator Lee's ridiculous attempt to sell millions of acres of public land, an ideological crusade against public land, rather than a serious proposal to increase revenue for the federal government.”
Lydia Weiss, senior director of government relations for the wilderness, is a conservation nonprofit that will reject the proposal as “deafening.”
“And, people across the West have raised their voices to reject the sale of public land, which doesn't seem particularly interested in the revised bill,” she added. “They seem to be having this bad idea once and for all.”
According to the Wilderness Association, the proposal will be eligible for sale in California for 16 million acres before it is included.
The organization said vulnerable areas include a roadless extension north of Angeles National Forest, providing recreational opportunities for millions of people living in the Los Angeles Basin and conserving wildlife corridors. Other high-risk areas include San Bernardino, part of Iyo and Cleveland National Forest, as well as BLM land in the Mojave Desert, such as the Dry Lake Coyote Bed outside Joshua Tree National Park.
