Western Democrats are proposing legislation to specifically bar federal land sales under the budget reconciliation process.
Senate Democrats on Thursday unveiled their plan to block future attempts to sell off federal lands via the budget reconciliation process, vowing to prevent a repeat of Republican proposals to dispose of up to 3 million acres of public lands last year.
Sens. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) introduced the "Public Lands Integrity Act," which would designate the sale or disposal of public lands as "extraneous" under the so-called Byrd Rule. Heinrich is top Democrat on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
That rule — named after former Senate Majority Leader Robert Byrd — bars the inclusion of nonbudgetary items from reconciliation bills, which pass under a simple majority in the chamber.
"Congress must never use fast-tracked Senate procedure to sell Americans’ public lands to fund short-term partisan spending. Not now, not ever," Bennet said in a statement.
The legislation comes in response to Utah Sen. Mike Lee's proposal in 2025 to sell off federal lands as part of what became the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. That language was ultimately removed from the package in response to bipartisan objections from lawmakers, as well as conservation and hunting and fishing groups. Lee chairs the Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
“This bill would help keep public lands in public hands by closing arcane loopholes that allow Republicans to carry out their fantasies of selling our beloved forests and lands off to billionaires," Wyden said.
The proposal garnered immediate support from environmentalists, state officials and tribal nations worried about a future budget reconciliation bill reviving the land sales idea.
“Public lands throughout the United States should never be sold simply to reconcile the federal budget,” Chair Melvin J. Baker of the Southern Ute Indian Tribe said in a statement.
Ryan Callaghan, CEO of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, said: "It shows the American people that they were heard last summer, that public lands are valued treasures, and that under no circumstances should they be disposed of in any amount without going through the proper public process."