A proposal to sell federal public lands has officially been taken out of the Republicans spending and tax bill after facing strong push back from hunters, fishermen, outdoor recreation users and, most importantly, Republicans in the U.S. Senate and House.
Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, who kept pushing for the idea, announced late Saturday night that he “made the decision to withdraw the federal land sales provision from the bill.”
Colorado lawmakers applauded the change of course.
Democratic Rep. Joe Neguse cheered the news, writing on social media “the American people – and our public lands – have won!”
Neguse and GOP Rep. Jeff Hurd put out a joint statement opposing public land sales last week. “Republican or Democrat—representing red, purple, or blue districts—one sentiment continues to ring true: public lands are not for sale.”
“This is a huge victory for Colorado and the West. Thank you to everyone who made their voice heard and fought back against this dangerous provision,” said Sen. Michael Bennet on social media. “America’s public lands belong to all of us.”
Utah's Lee said he continues to believe the federal government “owns far too much land” that he said is mismanaged and that “massive swaths of the West are being locked away from the people who live there.”
He signaled he wasn’t giving up altogether, adding that he would work with President Donald Trump to “put underutilized federal land to work for American families.”
Lee blamed his decision on the budget reconciliation process, saying he couldn’t get a safeguard to guarantee that the land would only be sold to American families.
But the decision also came after other Senate Republicans from the West said they opposed the idea and would offer an amendment to get it taken out of the bill. Five House Republicans also said they would vote against the GOP’s Big Beautiful Bill if it remained in.
Lee had scaled back his proposal as public opposition mounted. It went from selling 0.5 to 0.75 percent of U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management lands in 11 Western states to selling 0.25 to 0.5 percent of Bureau of Land Management lands within five miles of the border of a population center.
“Protecting public lands is the most nonpartisan issue in the country,” said Chris Wood, president and CEO of Trout Unlimited in a statement. “This is certainly not the first attempt to privatize or transfer our public lands, and it won’t be the last. We must stay vigilant and defend the places we love to fish, hike, hunt, and explore.”
While Lee said the purpose of the land sales was for housing, the last iteration of his plan added infrastructure or “amenities” for housing needs, which could have opened it up for other uses.
Local Colorado leaders had also expressed concerns that the proposal would not lead to affordable housing being built, but rather more luxury or second homes.
Colorado Democrats were united in their opposition to the public land sales, while both GOP Reps. Hurd and Jeff Crank said they were also opposed to the idea.
GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert offered some support to the idea. After Lee first added public lands sales to his committee’s portion of the bill, she said in a statement that the plan would promote coordination, respect state and local priorities and reflect a sustainable approach to land management.
“The outrage from the far left is not only unwarranted — it’s out of touch with the real challenge facing rural America,” Boebert said.
