House GOP Sets Stage For Public Lands Sell Off

Bureau of Land Management, Forest Service and National Monument areas under threat as House waves budgetary requirements for transfer

The House of Representatives has adopted a rules package that includes a provision designed to make selling off public lands easier. The move comes amid a significant legal effort to force the sale of Bureau of Land Management lands across the west, and as the incoming Trump administration plans an assault on national monuments.

Every two years, each incoming Congress writes its own package of rules that govern how the chamber operates. On January 3rd, following the selection of Mike Johnson as Speaker, a 215-209 vote approved rules that contain a measure that will make it easier to transfer federally-managed public lands to state control.

Subsection (c)(2) of the Rules for the 119th Congress reads:

“In the One Hundred Nineteenth Congress, for all purposes in the House, a provision in a bill or joint resolution, or in an amendment thereto or a co…