500,000 Acre Public Land Sale May Be Back In Senate Budget

Asked if he planned to “bring back” the sell off, Utah Senator Mike Lee said, “yes.”

According to E&E News, Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) responded in the affirmative when asked if he intends to revive a provision requiring the sale of over 500,000 acres of public land in Nevada and Utah, now that the Senate is marking up the House budget. Lee is a follower of extremist Mormon teachings that claim man has dominion over nature, and has previously stated a goal of selling off all public land. He’s also Chair of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.

Less than two weeks ago, Americans celebrated news that pressure from voters had forced vulnerable Republican Congresspeople to withhold their votes on the 2026 budget package, unless the public land sell-off was removed. But at the time, I cautioned that the victory could be short-lived. Now that the legislation is with the Senate, it faces all manner of changes, including the reinstatement of the sale.

Also as a reminder, no price or revenue target for the 547,678 acres has even been hinted at. Despite grandstanding by Republican politicians in an attempt to take credit for “protecting” public lands, they still voted in a rules package in January that would allow lands to be sold off without consideration of ongoing revenues earned on those lands.

And also backing up a bit, we need to remember that this budget package is being rammed home through the budget reconciliation process, in which only dollars and cents can be considered in an effort to pass the Senate on a simple majority vote. As part of that process, any measure that adds to the deficit (in this case tax cuts for Elon Musk and Peter Thiel) must be offset by equivalent savings or new revenue. Lee has been tasked with finding $1 billion in new money in areas handled by Natural Resources.

The Wilderness Society explains in an emailed statement:

“The initial Senate budget process, debated earlier this spring, directed how much money each Senate committee needs to generate to pay for the budget package. Sen. Lee’s Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee has to find cuts or new revenue totaling $1 billion.”

“If the Senate moves the budget package forward through the normal process a sell off proposal would be initially introduced in committee. Unfortunately, the reconciliation process is unpredictable. Given Republican leadership's tight timeline they could push a full package to the floor that includes a sell off provision limiting opponents ability to debate and reject the proposal.”

According to Washington Post reporting, Trump is pushing Congress to deliver this budget to his desk by July 4.

But Lee’s drive to sell public lands could throw a wrench in that entire process.

“If Senator Lee tries to reinsert public lands selloff provisions in the Senate bill, it shows just how out of touch he is with what Western Americans and Americans across the country want,”Michael Carroll, public lands campaign director at The Wilderness Society, and a subscriber to this newsletter, told E&E.

“Lee’s determination to override the will of the American people and push through public lands sell-off is unsurprising, continues The Wilderness Society. “The reconciliation process lets him bypass the filibuster and normal legislative scrutiny in order to advance his extreme legislative proposals.”

TWS points to three actions taken by Lee in the last nine months, that they say telegraph his move to reinstate the sale:

• Last month Sen. Lee expressed support for the failed House budget proposal to sell off public lands by Rep. Mark Amodei (R- NV) and Rep. Chelse Malloy (R-UT) saying, “I think it's great,” and noting that he’d have voted for it.

• Early this year he supported Utah's failed Supreme Court Case, comparing Utah to a separate country being occupied by the United States. When the suit failed in the court he pledged to support legislation to give “America back to Americans.”

• He also supported the Administration's push to sell off public lands to real estate developers and was one of the first members of congress to push for the public lands development schemes now being advanced by Department of Interior Secretary Burgum and the Trump administration. A recent Lee bill would make more than 200 million acres of national public lands available for nomination and sale to state or local governments.

Once the Senate is done with its revisions, the bill will need to be returned to the House for approval. It’ll be interesting to watch what happens with those vulnerable Republican politicians who know any vote for the sale will damage their hopes of reelection in the mid-terms, but who also fear threats from their boss to throw his support (and Elon Musk’s money) behind primary challengers to any Republicans who defy him.

I also think it’s important to reiterate that none of this is necessary. Simply setting a fair tax rate for billionaires would eliminate the need for any budget cuts or land sell-offs. Even if you are in the pro-billionaire camp, there’s more effective ways to find the savings necessary to let them continue to dodge taxes: insurance companies over bill Medicare by an amount that will add up to $2 trillion over the next decade. That’s close to total amount this budget resolution will add to the deficit over the same time. The fact that Republicans reach for a land sale over simply reining in insurance companies should tell you everything you need to know about who they work for, and who they very much do not.

Top photo: NPS

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