Utah Sen. Mike Lee withdraws a plan that could have auctioned more than a million acres.
by Angus M. Thuermer Jr., WyoFile.com (June 28, 2025) — Utah Sen. Mike Lee withdrew his land-sale provision from the Senate reconciliation budget bill Saturday evening.
“I was unable to secure clear, enforceable safeguards to guarantee that these lands would be sold only to American families – not to China, not to Blackrock, and not to any foreign interest,” Lee posted on X. “For that reason, I’ve made the decision to withdraw the federal land sales provision from the bill.”
The Republican had sought to require the sale of Bureau of Land Management property — owned by all Americans — to help Western communities resolve affordable housing worries. Critics said existing laws allow such sales and that the measure violated a core western value — public access to public land.
“Total faceplant.” —Land Tawney
More than one million acres of public land were at stake. The provision required the government to auction the property rapidly and with curtailed public involvement.
Conservationists, hunters and anglers and outdoor recreation businesses erupted in virtual applause after Lee conceded. Opposition across the West stirred thousands to rally in support of continued ownership of and access to their publicly owned property.
“Public lands are the cornerstone of our conservation legacy,” Chris Wood, president and CEO of Trout Unlimited said in a statement heralding the provision’s demise.
Others were less reserved.
“Total faceplant,” wrote Land Tawney, co-chair of American Hunters & Anglers.
“He rewrote his scheme multiple times,” Tawney said of Lee. “And tonight? He yanked his own language from the bill,” Tawney wrote in a statement.
A coalition of outdoor businesses that claims to be part of a $1.2 trillion recreation economy said the budget reconciliation process “was the wrong vehicle for deciding the fate of America’s public lands.
“Selling off public lands in this way was not just out of touch with public sentiment,” the Outdoor Recreation Roundtable coalition said, “it could have impacted businesses, jobs, public health, and the many rural communities that depend on access to outdoor recreation for economic development and quality of life.”
WyoFile is an independent nonprofit news organization focused on Wyoming people, places and policy.
