The United States Congress is currently hammering out a budget for the upcoming fiscal year. As part of that budget, a proposal was made by two senators to entirely block the sale of public lands.
There has been talk recently of some congressional representatives who are open to the idea of selling off federal lands to help with the housing problems facing the West. Utah governor Spencer Cox has teamed up with senator Mike Lee (R – UT) to create a bill that will transfer ownership of federal lands within Utah city boundaries, back to the state. This land is supposed to be used to build homes for Utah’s rapidly-exploding population.
That proposal—brought by Sens. John Hickenlooper (D – CO) and Martin Heinrich (D – NM)—was defeated by a 51-48 vote. All 51 of the nay votes were Republicans, but both Montana senators voted for the proposal.
“Public lands belong to all of us,” Heinrich said in a press release. “Under the Republicans’ agenda, wealthy out-of-state landowners will be able to turn our most beloved and sacred public lands into their private resorts. Not on our watch. This is about protecting access to the places we know and love for our kids, grandkids, and generations to come.”
While this may feel like cause for alarm, it’s important to note that this budget isn’t final. Both the House and Senate have to agree on every item before a budget bill is passed, so it’s entirely possible this decision is reversed in future versions of the budget.
One method for voicing your concern is to write to your congressional representatives and let them know how you feel about public land potentially being sold.
Yeah, the next time I see somebody on a fly fishing site on social media spewing that MAGA garbage at me I’m gonna hope that karma breaks his rod into a thousand pieces. I’m done with all this kumbaya non-partisan shit. Republicans vote in bloc against clean water, clean air, wetlands, habitat protection, public lands preservation, and science.