Mike Lee explains his decision to downsize public lands sell-off plan amid backlash, Senate rules setback

Sen. Mike Lee has provided more detail about why he is overhauling his plan to sell off federal lands throughout the West for housing.

Appearing on the Charlie Kirk Show Tuesday, Lee said his proposal to build “freedom zones” that support single-family homes and farmers on lands formerly managed by federal agencies had been the subject of a “massive misinformation campaign” started by the political left.

The liberal campaign was “trying to dupe conservatives into believing it will somehow endanger the beautiful scenic landscapes that make the West so special,” Lee said.

His vision does not call for building condos in the middle of Yellowstone National Park, the Republican senator clarified.

“We need to dispel once and for all the myth that the federal land footprint” cannot be changed, Lee said.

Lee had attached draft legislation to a budget reconciliation bill — called President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” — that would have sold off more than 3 million acres “for housing” in 11 Western states. The move proved unpopular among liberals and also rankled many conservatives. Late Monday, Lee announced on the social media platform X that he planned to make major revisions to his proposal.

Forest Service lands will now be off the table under the revised provision, Lee said, as would a significant chunk of the Bureau of Land Management acreage he formerly offered up. Instead, he plans to only include lands within five miles of population centers.

A copy of the senator’s revised draft was not available as of Tuesday. Lee told his X followers to “stay tuned.”

It appears Lee’s draft was doomed despite the backlash. Shortly after his post to X, the Senate parliamentarian ruled out its inclusion in the Republican-led megabill, as reported by E&E News.

Elizabeth MacDonough, the parliamentarian, advised the public lands sell off would be subject to 60-vote “Byrd rule” point of order if it was not removed from the bill. That rule bars extraneous provisions that are not focused on fiscal concerns.

“This is a significant win for public lands,” said Jennifer Rokala, executive director of the conservation advocacy nonprofit Center for Western Priorities, in a statement Tuesday.

In his X post, Lee acknowledged the barrier Byrd likely still poses to his updated strategy.

“But I’m doing everything I can to support President Trump and move this forward,” Lee wrote.

Despite his proposed changes, X users continued to pile on their opposition Tuesday.

“Are you going to show us a MAP of what you plan to sell?” asked one poster in a reply to Lee. “We’ve been asking for a map all week. Why won’t you provide one?”

Lee explained to Kirk that he could not produce a map of the lands to be sold because his proposed legislation had a “bunch of criteria” that are “very difficult to reduce to a map.”

He added that the acreage eligible for the auction block would not include protected lands like national monuments, wilderness areas or popular recreational areas, and would amount to “less than half a precent” of all federal lands.

“We’ve made recent changes in the last few days,” Lee told Kirk, “to the narrow the scope, make it even clearer that this would apply only with respect to land that is in or immediately adjacent to existing residential communities.”

A map created last week by The Wilderness Society, a nonprofit land conservation group, showed Lee’s original plan could have included popular ski areas, trails and hunting grounds.

On Monday, nearly two dozen hunting and fishing organizations in Utah sent Lee a letter protesting his plan.

“This expansive community doesn’t always agree on everything,” said Perry Hall, chair of the Utah Chapter of the Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, in a news release. “But one thing is certain; protecting our public lands and access is a unifying issue.”

But Lee railed against the groups that created and distributed the maps drumming up concerns on all sides of the political spectrum.

“The left has been very creative and effective in how they seeded the field with this information,” Lee said, “putting out maps that misstate, misrepresent and dramatically overstate what the bill would do.”

He noted a nationwide housing crisis, particularly in the West. Liberals “generally” encourage Americans to move from rural areas to dense, urban, multi-family housing as a solution, the senator said.

“Conservatives tend to want Americans to be able to pursue the American dream,” Lee said, “of acquiring ownership of a single-family dwelling unit.”

He asserted his plan could double the supply of those types of homes in the West.