(The Hill) — According to legislative text accessed by The Hill, a modified proposal from Senate Republicans would involve selling up to 1.2 million acres of public land.
The revised document mandates selling off 0.25 to 0.5 percent of the 245 million acres managed by the Bureau of Land Management, equating to 612,500 to 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 Donald Trump’s agenda.
Lee indicated he would amend his initial proposal, which aimed to sell off 2.2 million to 3.3 million acres, after the Senate parliamentarian determined it couldn’t be included in the party’s budget plan.
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 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 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.
