- Sen. Mike Lee withdrew his public lands sale provision from President Donald Trump's tax bill late Saturday.
- The decision followed feedback from community members and the Senate parliamentarian's ruling.
- Montana Sen. Tim Sheehy had planned an amendment to remove the provision, which had GOP support.
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Sen. Mike Lee said late Saturday he was pulling a provision to sell public lands from the "One Big Beautiful Bill" because of changes required to the language by the Senate parliamentarian.
In a social media post on Saturday, Lee said after listening "to members of the community, local leaders, and stakeholders across the country," he decided to "withdraw the federal land sales provision from the bill."
— Mike Lee (@SenMikeLee) June 29, 2025
Lee said because of the constraints of the budget reconciliation process, he couldn't guarantee the land would be sold "only to American families — not to China, not to BlackRock, and not to any foreign interests."
Lee sounded frustrated about the campaign against the public lands provision, saying there had been "a tremendous amount of misinformation — and in some cases, outright lies — about my bill," but said other people brought forward "sincere concerns."
Lee said he "continues to believe the federal government owns too much land" and that he would continue to work with the Trump administration to "put underutilized federal land to work for American families."
The Senate parliamentarian ruled earlier this week that the Utah senator's proposal to sell between 2.2 million and 3.3 million acres of federally owned land would be stripped from President Donald Trump's massive tax package because it did not comply with the strict rules laid out in the reconciliation process.
Lee's team then submitted new language that was approved by the parliamentarian. But then late Saturday he decided to strip the provision from the bill entirely.
The biggest change he had made was the removal of U.S. Forest Service lands from being eligible for sale, significantly reducing how much land could be sold under his proposal.
The original proposal would have required 11 Western states to sell anywhere between 0.5% and 0.75% of all Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service lands in the next five years.
The legislation specifically applied to Utah as well as Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming.
Lee began adjusting his proposal over the weekend based on feedback from the public, his office told the Deseret News, and was nearly finalized before the parliamentarian issued the ruling.
Montana senator was readying amendment to strip Lee's provision
Lee's proposal also received pushback from some of his Republican colleagues, particularly those who have long opposed selling public lands for private use.
On Saturday, Montana Republican Sen. Tim Sheehy said he would oppose the vote to move forward with the tax bill because of the public lands provision, but then later changed his mind after Senate GOP leaders gave him the go-ahead to introduce an amendment to strip the public lands language from the bill.
"I oppose the sale of public lands and will vote no on the motion to proceed if it is included," Sheehy said in a social media post midday Saturday.
Moments later, he wrote: "I have just concluded productive discussions with leadership. I will be leading an amendment to strip the sale of public lands from this bill. I will vote yes on the motion to proceed. We must quickly pass the Big Beautiful Bill to advance President Trump's agenda."
Reaction
Environmental organizations praised Lee's move.
"The nationwide, bipartisan backlash sparked by Sen. Mike Lee's proposal to sell off millions of acres of public land shows just how universally unpopular his idea is," Scott Braden, the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance executive director, said in a statement. "While we're glad to see Sen.Lee has removed his sell-off plan from the budget bill and are celebrating this win, we know Lee's underlying goal remains the same: to force the sale of America's public lands using any excuse or legislative opportunity he can find. Sen. Lee's vision for the American West as a place without public lands is wildly out of touch with what Americans from all walks of life want to see."
The Center for Biological Diversity issued a similar statement.
"Good riddance to the biggest attack on public lands in history," said Brett Hartl, the group's government affairs director. "Selling off public lands remains overwhelmingly out of step with the values of nearly all Americans and it should never have even been considered. This is a huge victory for the many millions of people across this country who love our public lands and want vibrant wildlife populations and a healthy environment."
Chris Wood, the president and CEO of Trout Unlimited, said the proposal sparked widespread outrage from hunters, anglers and outdoor enthusiasts.
"Protecting public lands is the most nonpartisan issue in the country," Wood said in a statement. "Public lands are the cornerstone of our conservation legacy, uniting us with the last best places this country has to offer. We thank the members of Congress who have joined hundreds of thousands of outdoorsmen and women in opposing widespread public land selloffs in reconciliation."
