The official in charge of making sure the legislature legislates according to the existing rules has now said that the selloff, along with a number of other provisions in the Big Whatever Bill, would require a 60-vote majority in order to satisfy Senate procedures. With the existing margins and, at least on this sort of thing, a united Democratic front, that means those provisions are dead in the water.
“Democrats will not stand idly by while Republicans attempt to circumvent the rules of reconciliation in order to sell off public lands to fund tax breaks for billionaires,” said Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon, the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, in a statement. “We will make sure the Byrd Rule is followed and review any changes Republicans attempt to make to the bill.” (An explanation of the Byrd Rule, if you’re curious.)
Along with the selloff of, potentially, “recreation areas, wilderness study areas, inventoried roadless areas, critical wildlife habitat and big game migration corridors,” the parliamentarian has an increasingly long list of other provisions that would also require the essentially impossible 60-vote threshold. They include: a provision that would let offshore oil and gas projects simply skip the National Environmental Policy Act’s environmental review processes, as well as a requirement to issue offshore oil and gas leases quickly after sales are conducted; a requirement that the Secretary of the Interior hold annual geothermal lease sales and change how royalties for geothermal projects are calculated; a provision the Senate Democrats called a “pay-to-play” scheme where natural gas companies can simply pay a fee to have their projects deemed “in the public interest,” a required step for approval; a requirement that the DOI permit the construction of Ambler Road, a mining access project that would allow construction of major copper mines against the wishes of Native tribes and others; and more. A few other provisions regarding coal, oil, and gas leasing, as well as specific provisions regarding the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, were still under consideration.
On the public lands front, Senator Lee took to X to pretend that he was listening to constituent uproar against the selloff. “Hunter Nation: You spoke, and I’m listening,” he posted. “I’ll be making changes in the coming days.” Of course, he could have listened to the public before proposing the move, considering that upwards of 70 percent opposed such sales in polling conducted only two months ago; only 10 percent supported the idea.
“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,” said Tracy Stone-Manning, president of the non-profit Wilderness Society, who has campaigned against the selloff. “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.”
In an era when the entire idea of “rules” seems up for debate, it can feel like a minor miracle when some of them are actually followed. Who knows what happens next, especially as the president has begun Truth Shouting at the Congressional GOP to “GET THE DEAL DONE THIS WEEK” and “NO ONE GOES ON VACATION UNTIL IT’S DONE.” But for now at least, Parliamentarian 1, BasedMikeLee 0.
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