Senate rulekeeper blocks public lands sales from Republican budget bill

Elise Schmelzer, The Denver Post on Jun 24, 2025

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A provision that would mandate the sale of federal public lands across the West — including in Colorado — cannot be included in the Republican budget bill, the U.S. Senate’s nonpartisan rulekeeper has decided.

Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough ruled late Monday that the sale of up to 3.3 million acres of U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management property falls outside the scope of the rules for the Republican-drafted reconciliation bill, according to a news release from Democrats on the U.S. Senate Committee on the Budget. That means proponents of the sale must either attempt to rewrite the provision so it fits Senate rules or drop it from the budget bill.

Conservation groups cheered the development Tuesday morning.

“This is a victory for the American public, who were loud and clear: Public lands belong in public hands, for current and future generations alike,” Tracy Stone-Manning, the president of the Wilderness Society, said in a statement. “We trust the next politician who wants to sell off public lands will remember that people of all stripes will stand against that idea. Our public lands are not for sale.”

The budget process in Congress is governed by a policy — known as the Byrd rule — that limits the types of provisions allowed in a reconciliation bill. The rule limits the bill’s provisions to those focused on revenue and spending, rather than policy.

Reconciliation bills are exempt from filibuster and, therefore, require only a simple 51-vote majority to pass. Legislation outside of the budget process requires at least 60 votes to overcome the filibuster threshold.

More than 14 million acres of federal public land in Colorado would be eligible for sale if Congress passed the original version of the budget bill. It mandated the sale of between 0.5% and 0.75% of the 438 million acres managed by the BLM and USFS.

The proposal exempted certain lands from sale, including national monuments, wilderness areas, national conservation areas, national parks and national recreation areas.

Sen. Mike Lee, the Utah Republican who chairs the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, pitched the land sales as a way to generate revenue and make more land available for housing.

The public lands sale proposal was met with outrage by conservation groups, recreationists, Colorado’s Democratic delegation and some Western Republicans in Congress.

All of Colorado’s Democratic congressional representatives opposed the sale of lands, as did Rep. Jeff Hurd, a Republican representing the state’s Western Slope.

Hurd and Rep. Joe Neguse, a Democrat, issued a joint statement Tuesday applauding the removal of the lands sale provision. They urged lawmakers from both political parties to oppose the widespread sale of public lands.

“Colorado’s public lands belong to the people and are held in trust for future generations,” the congressmen said. “They don’t belong to political appointees or outside interests. Neither of our districts asked for this land sale, and any efforts to sell off these shared spaces are deeply unpopular with the hunters, ranchers, fishermen, recreationists, conservationists, and outdoor enthusiasts we are proud to represent in Congress.”

On Monday night, Lee announced major changes to his proposal, including eliminating all Forest Service land from possible sales. He also said he would limit the BLM land available for sale to parcels within a 5-mile radius of communities.

“Yes, the Byrd Rule limits what can go in the reconciliation bill, but I’m doing everything I can to support President Trump and move this forward,” Lee said on X.