Latest news with #WesternRepublicans
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Zinke leads push to strip public lands sale from federal budget bill
Montana U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke speaks at a press conference announcing the launch of the bipartisan Public Lands Caucus on May 7, 2025. (Courtesy photo) Calling it his 'San Juan Hill,' a reference to a Spanish-American War battle victory by Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders, Montana U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke announced Wednesday he had successfully led a bipartisan charge to remove a provision to sell public lands from the federal budget bill. The provision to sell off roughly 450,000 acres of federal land in Utah and Nevada passed out of the House Natural Resources Committee in early May, but met opposition from conservation groups and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. The proposed sale and exchanges of land involved areas near Las Vegas, Reno and St. George, Utah, aimed at allowing for affordable housing developments on Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management Land. Zinke, a Republican and former Interior Secretary who formed the new bipartisan Public Lands Caucus the day after the provision was adopted in committee, has been a strong opponent to the sale of federal public land. 'I do not support the widespread sale or transfer of public lands. Once the land is sold, we will never get it back. God isn't creating more land,' Zinke said in a press release on Wednesday. 'Public access, sportsmanship, grazing, tourism… our entire Montanan way of life is connected to our public lands.' The House Rules Committee removed the provision from the budget bill after opposition from several Western Republicans, including Zinke, Rep. Troy Downing, R-Montana, and Public Lands Caucus Vice Chairman Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho. The opposition to public lands sale threatened to derail President Donald Trump's 'One Big Beautiful Bill Act,' a sweeping 1,116-page bill that contains the administration's spending priorities. With the federal land transfer portion struck from the reconciliation package, Zinke and Downing both endorsed the 'Big Beautiful Bill,' which includes extending the Trump Administration's tax cuts from 2017, increasing funding for the border wall, Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and temporarily eliminates taxes on overtime work and tips. The bill could also cut funding from programs such as Medicaid and SNAP benefits, which states may have to fund in order to keep service levels intact. It also includes implementing work requirements for Medicaid within two years and accelerates the phase-out of clean energy tax credits enacted by former President Joe Biden. The bill, which passed an initial House vote by a single vote, still faces opposition for its price tag. The Nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates it would add nearly $4 trillion to the nation's debt. Multiple conservation groups released statements praising the work done by Zinke, and thousands of constituents nationwide, to remove the public lands sale amendment from the bill. 'Tens of thousands of Montana hunters, anglers, and other outdoor enthusiasts have been flooding the Capitol switchboard, attending weekend rallies, and writing letters and postcards to Congress, asking that the public lands transfer amendment be killed,' said Mike Mershon, board chair and president of the Montana Wildlife Federation, in a statement. . 'Selling our shared public lands to pay for tax cuts for the rich was and is an awful, un-American idea, and we appreciate Rep Zinke's work to keep it out of the bill. His colleagues never should have considered it in the first place,' Lydia Weiss, senior director for government relations at The Wilderness Society, said in a statement. Montana Conservation Voters, Trout Unlimited, the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, Outdoor Recreation Roundtable, MeatEater and other groups also released statements. The success in appealing to Republican leaders to make the change marked a strong win for the new members of the Public Lands Caucus. Downing said in a statement that he was pleased the bill removed the public lands sale, and that it includes keeping the Bull Mountains Mine in Musselshell County operational. 'Our legislation delivers historic tax cuts, secures our borders, strengthens key programs for future generations, eliminates waste, fraud, and abuse, and sets the country on a path toward fiscal responsibility,' Downing said. 'Our work is not done, but Republicans will not rest until this once-in-a-generation legislation is signed by the President.'
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
House Republicans Kill Provision to Sell Public Lands
Republican House leaders have pulled a controversial provision from the federal budget bill that would have required the sale or transfer of some 500,000 acres of federal public land in the West. Late this afternoon, leadership of the House Rules Committee removed the provision through a mechanism called a 'manager's amendment' after being pressured by maverick House Republicans. 'This was my San Juan Hill,' said Montana Republican Ryan Zinke in a press release. 'I do not support the widespread sale or transfer of public lands. Once the land is sold, we will never get it back. God isn't creating more land. Public access, sportsmanship, grazing, tourism… our entire Montanan way of life is connected to our public lands.' The land-sale amendment to the House Natural Resources budget has inflamed conservationists and threatened to be a motivating election issue for hunters, anglers, and outdoor recreationists. The provision was stripped after at least six Western Republicans, led by Zinke, said they wouldn't support the budget if it contained the land-sale amendment. The amendment from Nevada Republican Mark Amodei and Utah Republican Celeste Maloy, slipped into the budget at the last minute earlier this month, at first seemed to call for selling about 11,000 acres in southern Utah. Then details emerged that it also included a requirement to sell or trade another 500,000 acres in Nevada. Conservationists and public land advocates worried that if Congress established a precedent for selling federal lands with no public process or clear understanding of the acreages involved, the pattern could continue with wholesale sales of public lands elsewhere. 'I think every hunter in America was calling their [Congress] member with a note that said 10 days ago this was 11,000 acres for housing. Then it was 350,000 acres. Then 500,000 acres,' says David Willms, vice president for public lands for the National Wildlife Federation. 'They were saying maybe we shouldn't be including something in [budget] reconciliation at the eleventh hour if no one actually knows how much land is at stake, and that blindsided the public. They were telling their congressmen, 'Pull it.'' The land-sale provision threatened to derail The One Big, Beautiful Bill Act, the mega-bill that contains President Trump's spending priorities and a permanent tax cut. The bill is projected to increase the national deficit by up to $4 trillion while reorienting many federal agencies missions and capabilities. While the toxic land-sale amendment is out of the budget bill, which will go to the full House for a floor vote later this week, it could be inserted back into the bill when it goes to the Senate. Utah Republican Mike Lee, the chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and a staunch champion of selling or transferring federal land to the states, is among several senators who could revive the amendment. Congressional leaders have said they want to pass the budget by Memorial Day. Any substantive revision on the Senate side would require concurrence from the House, and that might push passage past the holiday. 'We extend our deep appreciation to Representative Ryan Zinke and Representative Mike Simpson for publicly opposing language in the House budget reconciliation bill that would sell off and sell out our public lands legacy,' said Kaden McArthur, Backcountry Hunters & Anglers director of policy and government relations, in a prepared statement. 'As the Senate considers a budget reconciliation bill, hunters and anglers across the nation must continue the groundswell of opposition to public land sales so it is understood that this issue is a line in the sand that we will not allow to be crossed.' Editor's Note: A previous Outdoor Life story referenced a report from onX stating that approximately 1.5 million acres would be sold if the budget amendment were passed. However that report was inaccurate. The true number of acres that were up for disposal was approximately 500,000.
