https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/28/climate/public-lands-sell-off-dropped-mike-lee.html

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A Public Lands Sell-Off Is Struck From the G.O.P. Policy Bill

Senator Mike Lee, Republican of Utah, said he would withdraw his
proposal after it faced intense intraparty opposition.

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Lake Dillon, near Frisco, Colo., ringed by mountains.
Senator Mike Lee, Republican of Utah, pulled his proposal to sell
public lands, including in areas near Lake Dillon in Colorado.
Credit...Daniel Brenner for The New York Times

By Maxine Joselow

Reporting from Washington

Published June 28, 2025Updated June 29, 2025, 9:36 a.m. ET

Senator Mike Lee, Republican of Utah, said late Saturday that he had
dropped his contentious plan to sell millions of acres of public
lands from the sweeping domestic policy package that the Senate will
soon begin debating.

Mr. Lee made the nighttime announcement on social media after it
became clear that the plan faced insurmountable opposition from
within his own party. At least four Republican senators from Western
states had said they planned to vote for an amendment to strike the
proposal from the bill.

The plan had also triggered intense pushback from conservative
hunters and outdoorsmen across the American West, who had warned that
it threatened the lands where they hunted and fished.

"Over the past several weeks, I've spent a lot of time listening to
members of the community, local leaders and stakeholders across the
country," Mr. Lee wrote on X on Saturday. "While there has been a
tremendous amount of misinformation -- and in some cases, outright
lies -- about my bill, many people brought forward sincere concerns."

The provision would have required the Bureau of Land Management to
sell as much as 1.225 million acres of public property in 11 Western
states. Proponents had argued that the region has a severe shortage
of affordable housing and that developers could build new homes on
these tracts.

In his post, Mr. Lee said that, because of the strict rules governing
the budgetary process that Republicans are using to pass the bill, he
was "unable to secure clear, enforceable safeguards to guarantee that
these lands would be sold only to American families -- not to China,
not to BlackRock, and not to any foreign interests."

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