WASHINGTON — After nearly a week of criticism, Utah Sen. Mike Lee's proposals to sell off millions of acres of public lands don't appear to have the support of the Trump administration.
In an interview Thursday with Scripps News in Washington, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum seemed dismissive of Lee's efforts to include a plan to sell some federally-controlled lands in western states in Trump's "Big, Beautiful Bill."
"It wasn’t part of the core original bill, it wasn’t part of the House version, so it’s not a central topic," Burgum said. "I don’t think anyone is really spending much time thinking about it up there."
Lee seeks to revive public land sale as groups mobilize to kill it:
Even after the Senate parliamentarian, who acts as a key policy referee, ruled the proposal to be improper under Senate rules earlier this week, Lee vowed to push forward with revisions, while also blaming a "massive misinformation campaign" as the root of the heavy criticism.
In his comments, Burgum acknowledged some parts of the land sale proposal could work, but it didn't seem to be a priority for him or President Trump.
"Again, there’s a small percentage of the federal land we own that borders current urban areas, not used for recreation or national parks, that would make a ton of sense for that to be considered," the Secretary said. "But it doesn’t matter to me at all if it’s part of this bill. It’s not something that was part of the president’s agenda to be part of this bill in the first place."
