Wyatt Myskow, INSIDE CLIMATE NEWS
Utah Sen. Mike Lee’s proposed amendment to the budget reconciliation megabill that would mandate the sell-off of two to three million acres of U.S. public lands has been ruled out by the Senate parliamentarian.
Elizabeth MacDonough, the Senate parliamentarian whose staff provides advice on rules, precedents and statutes in the Senate, said the proposal, as well as a host of others suggested by the Energy and Natural Resources committee, will require 60 votes—more than the Republican majority in the Senate can provide—to stay in the bill, according to a press release from Senate Budget Committee Democrats. The decision stems from the Byrd Rule, which prevents extraneous matter from being added to budget reconciliation bills.
Environmental groups heralded the news, but the threat of public land sell-offs remain, and the Trump administration already this week has rolled back other rules protecting remote areas of the country. The Senate parliamentarian plays an advisory role, and their recommendations can be overruled by Senate leadership, though Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said Monday they wouldn’t move to do so. Already, Lee (R-Utah), who chairs the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said in a post on X that he would submit new language in the bill completely removing the selling off of land managed by the Forest Service and reducing the number of Bureau of Land Management acres that would be put up for sale.