Daines, Zinke Speak Out Against Public Land Sale in ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ Ahead of Senate Vote
Republican delegates from Montana asserted their opposition ahead of the weekend as the Senate is primed to vote on the legislation
By Mariah Thomas
As the Senate primes to vote on the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” a controversial public land sale provision has been top of mind for Montana’s congressional delegation. U.S. Sen. Steve Daines said the sale would not make it through the Senate reconciliation process, according to reporting from NOTUS. He promised he had the votes to kill it.
The public land sale provision has been pushed by Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah. Lee first proposed to sell off between 0.5% and 0.75% of National Forest System and Bureau of Land Management land in 11 Western states for the purpose of housing. That would have amounted to more than 2 million acres of land sold.
Montana has been exempt. Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming could all see land sold. Funds from the sales would go into the general fund for the U.S. Treasury.
The proposal caused a firestorm of opposition among conservation groups of all political stripes.
Lee’s proposal was tossed out by the Senate parliamentarian Monday. She cited the Byrd Rule, which prohibits extraneous provisions in the federal budget. It requires a three-fifths vote of the Senate to overrule. But Lee promised on X he’d rework it.
“Housing prices are crushing families and keeping young Americans from living where they grew up,” Lee wrote. “We need to change that.”
A draft version of Lee’s new proposal scales back the amount of land eligible for the sale. National Forest System land is no longer eligible. Between 0.25% and 0.5% of Bureau of Land Management land would be eligible for sale in the new proposal.
Daines and Montana’s other U.S. senator, Tim Sheehy, have both said they’re against the sale of public lands. They would not say earlier this week whether they planned to vote against the budget reconciliation bill if it included the public land sale provision.
Idaho senators Mike Crapo and Jim Risch have also stated opposition to the public land sale provision. Other Republican senators have raised issues with the bill for various reasons. With 53 Republican senators in the chamber, Senate Majority Leader John Thune can only afford to lose three votes on the bill.
In the other chamber, Montana’s U.S. House Rep. Ryan Zinke released a letter addressed to House Speaker Mike Johnson Thursday promising to vote against the bill in the House if it included the provision. It was signed by four other GOP House members. Zinke has pledged to vote against any legislation including a public land sale, calling it his “San Juan Hill.“
“We support the OB3 passed by the House and generally accept changes to the bill that may be made by the Senate,” the letter said, calling the legislation by OB3. “However, we cannot accept the sale of federal lands that Senator Lee seeks. If a provision to sell public lands is in the bill that reaches the House floor, we will be forced to vote no.”
He was joined in signing it by Mike Simpson, R-Idaho; Dan Newhouse, R-Washington, Cliff Bentz; R-Oregon; and David Valadao, R-California. They referred to the land sale provision as a “poison pill” that would cause the legislation’s failure.
The One Big Beautiful Bill passed on a 215-214 vote in the House in May. If the public land sale provision makes it through the Senate, and all five members voted against the bill, it would be enough to sink the legislation.
Thune, the Senate majority leader, told Axios earlier this week he hoped the Senate would vote on the bill Friday. The Hill reported the bill could see the Senate floor as soon as Saturday, as legislators race to meet a July 4 deadline imposed by President Donald Trump.