Cantwell Statement on Latest Republican Public Lands Sell Off Proposal
Trump’s Statement of Administration Policy supports the land sales provision
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), a senior member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, released this statement regarding inclusion of Senator Mike Lee’s (R-UT) public lands sell off plan in the Senate reconciliation bill released by Republicans early this morning.
“Despite a nationwide outcry, Senate Republicans are barreling ahead with Senator Lee's deranged proposal to sell our shared public lands to the highest bidder,” said Sen. Cantwell. “Let me be clear: I will not stop fighting until this proposal is dead and buried. Americans will not stand to have the hiking, climbing, and hunting spots we love put up for sale."
The Senate Republican proposal comes as part of a larger Trump Administration push to privatize public lands. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has stated on multiple occasions that public lands should be recognized as valuable assets on the nation’s balance sheet and potentially used to generate revenue. Earlier this year, President Trump signed an executive order that described the nation’s natural resources and public lands as a “sum of asset value,” in the context of establishing a “Sovereign Wealth Fund.” Subsequently, Senator Mike Lee (R-UT), Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, proposed greenlighting the sale of over 250 millions of acres of public lands, which could constitute the “largest single sale of national public land in modern history.” While the Senate Parliamentarian rejected Lee’s opening gambit, deeming the proposal ineligible under budget reconciliation process rules, Lee responded, “I’m doing everything I can to support President Trump and move this forward.” He promised, “We’re just getting started.”
The revised proposal released today would sell at least between 0.25 and 0.50 percent of Bureau of Land Management Land, within a 5-mile radius of a population center, in 11 Western states, except Montana –up to 1.2 million acres of public land, at least.
Sen. Cantwell is strongly opposed to selling off federal lands.
On Tuesday she held a virtual press conference with the mayor of Boise, professional climbers, a leader from outdoor gear retailer REI, and a spokesperson for a hunting and angling advocacy group to push back on the GOP’s plans.
In a committee hearing on June 10, she took U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum to task over the administration’s alarming budget proposal for the Department of the Interior: “We're all amazed that you seem to be putting forth a budget that is basically saying, ‘I don't want to acquire. I want to actually sell public lands,’” she said.
Opposition to the plan is bipartisan. On Thursday, U.S. Rep Dan Newhouse (WA-04) joined four other House Republicans in sending a letter to Speaker Mike Johnson, saying: “If a provision to sell public lands is in the bill that reaches the House floor, we will be forced to vote no.”
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