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Today, the House of Representatives passed the FY2 Today, the House of Representatives passed the FY25 budget reconciliation package (Budget Bill) known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. On July 1, the Senate passed the Bill by a vote of 51-50 with Vice President JD Vance breaking the tie. 

In the weeks leading up to today’s vote, House and Senate Republicans from Utah proposed public lands sell-off as part of the Budget Bill; in each case, this provision was removed in the face of national, bipartisan opposition: 

In the House, Rep. Celeste Maloy (R-UT-2) and Mark Amodei’s (R-NV-2) Amendment would have forced the sell-off of over 11,000 acres of Bureau of Land Management (BLM) managed public land in Utah and at least 500,000 acres in Nevada. It was stripped on May 21. 

In the Senate, Senator and Chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee Mike Lee (R-UT) attempted to include language that would have mandated the sell-off of millions of acres of federal lands across 11 Western states, including Utah; his final version focused on over a million acres of BLM land. It was removed on June 24. 

See quote above from SUWA D.C. Director, Travis Hammill.
Just minutes ago, Senate Republicans passed the re Just minutes ago, Senate Republicans passed the reconciliation package known as One Big Beautiful Bill Act (H.R.1). The vote was 51-50 with Vice President JD Vance breaking the tie, meaning the legislation was approved by the Senate and will be sent back to the House of Representatives. 

In the weeks leading up to today’s vote, Senator and Chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee Mike Lee (R-UT) attempted to include language that would have mandated the sell-off of millions of acres of federal lands across 11 states in the West, including Utah; his final version focused on over a million acres of Bureau of Land Management land. Thanks to the bipartisan backlash and fierce opposition from SUWA’s members, partners, and Americans across the country, Sen. Lee was forced to pull his unpopular proposal mere hours before debate began. 

Read our statement at the link in our bio.
Thank you to each and every one of you who reached Thank you to each and every one of you who reached out to your senators—whether it was a phone call, email, postcard, or social media post. This is a moment to celebrate!

Two other important points.
First, while we’re excited that the Public Lands Sell-off has been removed, the Budget Bill is still deeply anti-conservation and anti-public-lands.

Second, though this sell-off attempt has been defeated, we know Senator 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.

Read the full update from SUWA Executive Director Scott Braden at the link in our bio.
🎉🎉🎉 Tonight, Senator Lee (R-UT) announced 🎉🎉🎉 Tonight, Senator Lee (R-UT) announced he has withdrawn his plan to sell off public lands as part of the FY25 Budget Reconciliation Bill currently being considered by the Senate. His plan was part of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee’s bill text and would have required the Bureau of Land Management to offer up more than a million acres of public land across 11 western states (AK, AZ, CA, CO, ID, NV, NM, OR, UT, WA, and WY) for sale.

Read our statement on the second slide or at the link in our bio. 🎉🎉🎉
Sen. Lee's reconciliation bill text to sell off mi Sen. Lee's reconciliation bill text to sell off millions of acres of public lands across the West continues to hit roadblocks of his own making. The Senate Parliamentarian, the Senate rule keeper, has once again axed the language on rules grounds. While Sen. Lee continues to try and edit to get something in, trying to set precedent for selling off public lands in Congress, time is running short. 

Sen. Daines, along with other Republican Senators from the West, have vocalized their opposition to any land sales. In addition, 5 House Republicans, led by Montana Congressman Ryan Zinke, have also told Speaker Johnson that they will vote against a reconciliation package that includes land sales. This is enough to prevent the passage of the reconciliation bill.

Sen. Lee has been shown, time and time again over the last 3 weeks, that a vast majority of Americans OPPOSE THE SELL OFF OF PUBLIC LANDS, full stop. Republicans and Democrats alike are representing the interests of their constituents that public lands are not for sale.

Keep up the good work!! Let's keep the pressure on, keep calling & writing your Senators and Congressperson. We have to get over the finish line, but things are looking promising because people like you are reaching out and telling Congress to protect public lands. Thank you for putting the work in! 

#protectwildutah
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425 East 100 South
Salt Lake City, UT 84111
(801) 486-3161

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Washington, DC 20001
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Moab, UT 84532

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Our popular “Protect Wild Utah” yard signs (in both English and Spanish) are available for pickup at SUWA’s Salt Lake City office and at many of our local events. To arrange an office pickup time (between 9-5, M-F), please call (801) 486-3161 or email us at info@suwa.org.

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