Due to the proposal to sell off more than two million acres of public lands violating the Byrd Rule, it has been removed from the “Big Beautiful Bill.”
The Byrd Rule is a procedure installed to minimize the number of unrelated proposals added to Congress’ budget reconciliation bill. Utah’s Republican Sen. Mike Lee added this proposal to the reconciliation bill. A similar proposal was first made by Rep. Mark Amodei, R-Nev.
NVBEX previously covered both Amodei and Lee’s proposals. (NVBEX: May 14; May 23)
Lee later agreed that 2.2-3.3 million acres of eligible land to be sold off was too much. Due to the criticism he received, he later rolled things back, saying he would eliminate all U.S. Forest Service land from the reconciliation bill and limit eligible land to Bureau of Land Management territory within five miles of population centers.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal said Lee is likely to reintroduce the proposal with the revisions. The parliamentarian would then review the proposal again. Once that happens, Senate Republicans will have the opportunity to override the decision if they are able to garner 60 votes.
Two Democratic representatives from Nevada, Dina Titus and Susie Lee, both confirmed they will be watching for any proposals that are made. (Source)
