Senate removes provision that would sell off public lands from megabill
The Senate has removed a controversial provision from its megabill that would have sold off hundreds of thousands of acres of public lands.
Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) who was leading the push on the measure, announced late Saturday that the measure would be stripped from the bill.
'Because of the strict constraints of the budget reconciliation process, 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 interests,' Lee said in a post on X.
'For that reason, I've decided to withdraw the federal land sales provision from the bill.'
While the measure had some GOP support, it also received pushback from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.
Opponents included a group of five House Republicans who said they would vote no if the final bill contained the measure.
This story is developing and will be updated.
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