Overview

• The revised text mandates the sale of 0.25–0.50 percent of Bureau of Land Management holdings, excluding national monuments, recreation areas and lands more than five miles from towns of at least 1,000 residents.
• Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough narrowed the provision after ruling the original land-sale language violated the Byrd Rule.
• Sen. Mike Lee framed the amendment as a way to expand housing access in Western communities, while critics contend it chiefly funds tax cuts for wealthy interests.
• Environmental groups, led by the Sierra Club, criticized the provision’s last-minute insertion for its secrecy and absence of local or tribal consent.
• Five House Republicans pledged to vote against the budget reconciliation package if the public-lands sale remains, posing a threat to its passage.