Overview

• The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee’s reconciliation text directs the Bureau of Land Management and National Forest System to sell 0.50% to 0.75% of public lands across 11 western states.
• Lee’s office cites a Congressional Budget Office estimate that those sales could raise between $5 billion and $10 billion over the next decade.
• Environmental groups and some Republican figures warn the provision lacks enforceable safeguards to ensure parcels are developed for housing.
• The proposal explicitly excludes National Parks, National Monuments, Wilderness Areas and other federally protected categories from the sales.
• Lee plans to amend the text to limit eligible parcels to those within two to five miles of existing population centers.