Feeling pressure from public land users and fellow Republican senators, Utah Senator Mike Lee has promised to make “changes” to his legislation that could sell over 3 million acres of public land.
Writing on X Sunday evening, Lee addressed “Hunter Nation” and said, “You spoke, and I’m listening. I’ll be making changes in the coming days.”
The flip-flop comes in the face of a nationwide campaign to oppose Lee’s proposal. His amendment to the budget reconciliation bill would require the sale of 2-3 million acres of federal public land and make 250 million acres eligible for sale. Public land advocates have organized rallies across the country, and thousands of hunters and anglers have called and emailed their senators.
“Senator Mike Lee is starting to feel the heat,” said MeatEater’s Ryan Callaghan. “The collective pressure we’re all putting on him is working. He’s a very unpopular dude in D.C. He’s a very unpopular dude in America right now because–big shocker–we love our public lands.”
What’s more, at least four Republican U.S. senators have publicly opposed Lee’s provision in the “big, beautiful budget bill.”
- Montana Senator Steve Daines: “I don’t like it — I oppose the sale of public lands. The only part that I like about it is that it exempted Montana,” Daines told E&E News. “I pushed back strongly. I guess he heard me in terms of exempting Montana, which still doesn’t make me happy with the overall bill.”
- Montana Senator Tim Sheehy: “Senator Sheehy believes public lands belong in public hands and opposes the sale of public lands. He is pleased to see Montana exempted,” a Sheehy spokesperson said.
- Idaho Senator Mike Crapo: “After a careful and thorough review of the legislative text in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee reconciliation title, Senator Crapo does not support the proposed language to sell public lands,” said his communications director Melanie Lawhorn in a statement emailed to the Lewiston Tribune.
- Idaho Senator Jim Risch: “He does not support the proposed provision to sell public land in the reconciliation bill,” Risch spokesperson Madison Hardy told the Tribune.
Republicans hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate, which means the GOP can only afford to lose three votes. If all four of these senators maintain their stance against public land sales, Lee would be forced to either change or scrap his proposal.
Lee hasn’t said precisely how he plans to amend his legislation, and his office has not responded to a request for comment. But he has offered some clues.
In an interview with conservative commentator Glenn Beck, Lee suggested limiting the scope of land that could be sold to a certain distance from a “population center.”
“We’re working on changes to further limit eligible lands to Forest Service-owned lands within two miles of a population center and lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management within five miles of a population center. This deals with land that is only in or near a place people live,” he said.
He followed up those statements with a post on X reiterating the idea that land sales could be limited to those around current neighborhoods.
Of course, Lee himself admitted in his interview with Beck that his bill doesn’t just offer lands for sale–it establishes a new process by which land “could be considered for that purpose.”
The problem is, as Cal points out, the federal government already has a process to sell federal lands under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act.
“If we need to sell lands for something like affordable housing, which, by the way, Mike Lee is pitching to Democrats right now, we already have a process to do that. It’s called FLPMA. Revenues from land sales go back to acquiring public land of higher value for us, the American people, as it should,” he said.
Lee’s bill would create a new process that would make it easier to sell public land, and revenue from those sales would go directly back to the U.S. Treasury. He might try to limit eligible land in this particular bill, but establishing that new process in federal law would set a dangerous precedent. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson has said he plans to pass two more budget reconciliation bills, each of which will give Lee another shot at expanding the scope of possible public land sales.
“Mike Lee doesn’t get to apologize. This is his bag of shit that he brought to the table. He doesn’t get to go, ‘Oops, I didn’t know it was shit.’ He’s been trying this for a long time,” Cal pointed out. “We’ve got to stop it. It’s only going to stop if you stand up and scream louder than ever right now.”
“Call your senators. Tell them, no compromise. No public land sales in the budget reconciliation process. We have some momentum. Keep the gas pedal down,” he said.
You can reach your senator by calling the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-2131, and Cal has some advice for those who might be a little wary of calling their elected officials.
“If your senator has a good position on public lands, thank them for their position but ask them what they are doing to get public lands out of the budget process. Let them know if they don’t have an answer now, it’s ok because you’ll be calling back,” he said. “You’ll be talking to a staffer, so remember that staffer’s name, be polite, and acknowledge they are a real, live person. Public lands are a personal issue to all of us, so don’t forget to make this personal when you call—make a friend out of a staffer who picks up the phone and tell your story.”
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