Senate GOP included sale of 1.2 million public acres in Trump's big law
While the president intends to enact his legislation near July 4, House Republicans in the upper chamber are still not finished reconciling a final version to return to the House.
Senator Lee on Capitol Hill/ Andrew Caballero- Reynolds.
Senate Republicans updated their public lands sale proposal for inclusion in Donald Trump's big law. With his initial bill rejected by Senate rules, Mike Lee (R-UT) now seeks to sell up to 1.2 million public acres.
While the president intends to enact his legislation near July 4, upper House Republicans have yet to finish reconciling a final version to return to the House.
In addition to internal disagreements, lawmakers are grappling with the fact that some of the current provisions do not comply with Senate rules.
A few days ago, Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough ruled that the earlier proposal to sell public lands could not be part of the"One Big, Beautiful Bill." MacDonough is a nonpartisan official who acts as the Senate's top parliamentary rules expert, advising the leaders of the day on procedural matters.
Indeed, he did not comply with the Byrd Rule, a filter used to ensure that members of Congress do not over-include things in budget reconciliation. Under the rule, a budget reconciliation bill can only contain provisions that increase or decrease federal government spending, increase or decrease federal government revenues, and change the public debt limit.
">I’m still listening.
— Mike Lee (@SenMikeLee) June 24, 2025
I’m working closely with the Trump administration to ensure that any federal land sales serve the American people—not foreign governments, not the Chinese Communist Party, and not massive corporations looking to pad their portfolios.
This land must go to…
To avoid being affected by the rule, Senator Lee updated his proposal. Now, the new plan would sell between 612,500 and 1.2 million acres of public lands. According to text obtained by The Hill, between 0.25% and 0.50% of the 245 million acres currently held by the Bureau of Land Management would be sold.
In addition to lowering claims regarding the amount of public lands to be sold, Lee's new version excludes lands owned by national forests.
The updated provision specifies that land to be sold must be used "solely for housing development or to address any infrastructure and services to support local needs associated with housing."
In turn, it requires that the land sold be within five miles of the boundary of a population center.
"Housing prices are crushing families and keeping young Americans from living where they grew up. We need to change that. Yes, the Byrd Rule limits what can go in the reconciliation bill, but I’m doing everything I can to support President Trump and move this forward," Senator Lee advanced on his social networks.
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