A scaled-back plan by Utah Republican U.S. Sen. Mike Lee to sell public lands has made it into the final text of the Senate's version of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act but might get axed by a floor amendment.
Voting by the U.S. Senate on Republicans' signature legislation of the year is expected to begin Saturday. The Senate convened at noon Wyoming time (2 p.m. ET) for a session expected to turn into an all-night marathon.
The 940-page final Senate version of the bill, released Friday night, contains Lee's revised plan: a mandate that between 0.25 and 0.5 percent of Bureau of Land Management land -- about 1.2 million acres -- is sold for housing.
But the nonprofit news site NOTUS reported that U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Montana, said he has the votes to kill the revised plan with a floor amendment.
What’s more, five House Republicans have pledged to sink the whole bill if Lee’s text makes it through. Whatever the Senate passes this weekend — assuming it passes something — must go back to the House.
Significant opposition within Lee’s own party in both chambers makes his provision an outlier in the massive text and spending package.
Mostly the bill is a party-line vehicle to advance the agenda of President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans: preserving tax cuts, boosting funds for the military, cracking down on illegal immigration, cutting health and other aid programs, and thoroughly deregulating Corporate America from oil to banking.
Lee’s provision, along with proposed Medicaid changes and a $5 trillion increase in the debt limit, are sore spots for a few Republicans in the Senate bill.
U.S. Senate Republican Whip John Barrasso of Wyoming must help make sure at least 50 senators will get the bill through. The Senate GOP has a 53-47 edge and Vice President JD Vance would break a tie in the party’s favor, if necessary.
Lee’s Plans
Lee’s revised text, mandating the BLM to sell 1.2 million acres for housing, outlines steps for transparency.
The BLM would have to consult with state governors, local governments and tribal authorities in deciding which lands to sell, according to the text.
Lee's original plan would have required the BLM and the U.S. Forest Service combined to sell between 2 million and 3 million acres for housing.
The Senate parliamentarian found the provision out of compliance with rules the GOP is using to bypass the Democratic filibuster and move the package on a simple-majority vote.
The parliamentarian’s rulings — which number in the several dozen on this bill overall, many against the GOP — are nonbinding. It was not immediately clear if she found Lee’s revised plan up to snuff, but at any rate, his new plan is in the final bill.
Timber Figures Big
Although the USFS is no longer part of the provision to sell land for housing, the agency features prominently elsewhere in the bill pertaining to logging leases.
According to the final text, the bill would require that every year between 2026 and 2034, at least 250 million more board-feet of timber must be harvested on USFS land then the year before, under leases.
This would be a mandate, not a mere grant of authority, for such lease sales to be carried out by the Agriculture secretary, who oversees the USFS. And the quantities of timber are minimums.
There is a similar provision for the Interior secretary, with jurisdiction over the BLM, though the quantity of timber is much lower. It would require the Interior secretary to sell leases for at least 20 million more board-feet of timber in each successive year from 2026-2034 on BLM land.
Sean Barry can be reached at: Sean@CowboyStateDaily.com
