Newest US Senate Land Sale Amendment

[Treeshark]

I believe it was added without his knowledge.

At the very least - it was put in to test the waters and the results are speaking for themselves.

I will buy the second explanation. The first one seems pretty implausible.

 

[wyoelkfan15]

Called both our WY Senators this morning. Barasso straight to voicemail, Lummis, I had a good conversation with a staffer. Keep flooding their inboxes!

 

[USMC123456789]

So with FLPMA this isn't about affordable housing. I thought about the 'we're in so much debt...we need the money from the land sale' argument and did some quick calculations-

10 Most Expensive Ranches for Sale in America - Boerne Real Estate For Sale

10 Most Expensive Ranches for Sale in America | Here’s the Lands.com quarterly snapshot of the most expensive ranches currently listed for sale throughout the United States. Half of the properties on this list hail from Texas.

www.myboehmteam.com

The most expensive ranch for sale goes for 7,396.45 per acre. Assuming all the public land (3 million acres) sells for that ( which I doubt) that comes to 22,189,349,112.43.

A Google search shows that the US government spends roughly 6 million dollars a minute. That means the total sale would pay for 3,698 minutes, or 2.6 days of government spending.

Someone please correct me if my math is wrong.

 

[seeth07]

So with FLPMA this isn't about affordable housing. I thought about the 'we're in so much debt...we need the money from the land sale' argument and did some quick calculations-

10 Most Expensive Ranches for Sale in America - Boerne Real Estate For Sale

10 Most Expensive Ranches for Sale in America | Here’s the Lands.com quarterly snapshot of the most expensive ranches currently listed for sale throughout the United States. Half of the properties on this list hail from Texas.

www.myboehmteam.com

The most expensive ranch for sale goes for 7,396.45 per acre. Assuming all the public land (3 million acres) sells for that ( which I doubt) that comes to 22,189,349,112.43.

A Google search shows that the US government spends roughly 6 million dollars a minute. That means the total sale would pay for 3,698 minutes, or 2.6 days of government spending.

Someone please correct me if my math is wrong.

Your price per acre is a little off. There are certainly parcels that could be sold off to developers for well over 100k an acre.

Places like this come to mind. Heck, 1mil an acre might be more on par to their worth:

 

[Wildabeest]

Your price per acre is a little off. There are certainly parcels that could be sold off to developers for well over 100k an acre.

Yeah, but we’d probably get next to nothing for the stuff sold off “to address checker boarding”. If there’s no access, the only bidder will be the surrounding land owner, who will likely be able to get it for a fraction of its real value.

 

[Forkyfinder]

So with FLPMA this isn't about affordable housing. I thought about the 'we're in so much debt...we need the money from the land sale' argument and did some quick calculations-

10 Most Expensive Ranches for Sale in America - Boerne Real Estate For Sale

10 Most Expensive Ranches for Sale in America | Here’s the Lands.com quarterly snapshot of the most expensive ranches currently listed for sale throughout the United States. Half of the properties on this list hail from Texas.

www.myboehmteam.com

The most expensive ranch for sale goes for 7,396.45 per acre. Assuming all the public land (3 million acres) sells for that ( which I doubt) that comes to 22,189,349,112.43.

A Google search shows that the US government spends roughly 6 million dollars a minute. That means the total sale would pay for 3,698 minutes, or 2.6 days of government spending.

Someone please correct me if my math is wrong.

Out of curiousity - wanted to build on your math.

If we sold every inch of public land - 640 million x 8,000= 5.12 trillion

2024 spending was 6.75 trillion - so if we sold all of it for more than the "most expensive ranch" it wouldnt fund the budget for a year. Total revenue in 2024 was 4.92 trillion.

So at best - if we sold every single inch of public land we wouldnt really make a significant dent - at best maybe 8 years with a bunch of cuts.

Alternatively - we could stop giving commercial users deep discounts. Considering the DOI is already basically net neutral it should be painfully obvious how damn stupid this is.

 

[USMC123456789]

Your price per acre is a little off. There are certainly parcels that could be sold off to developers for well over 100k an acre.

Places like this come to mind. Heck, 1mil an acre might be more on par to their worth:
View attachment 375820

Even if all 3 million acres sold for 100,000 per acre, that only pays for a little over a month of government spending.


My point being that the only 2 reasons Mike is giving for needing to sell are bogus.

 

[elkduds]

The flag at my house reads Defend Public Lands. I've always given Randy kudos for public land advocacy and leadership, always will. He wouldn't be as much a leader without all of you. Have to say today how overwhelmed, impressed and grateful I am to each of you who are working for this. Work that is reflected by the positive movement on this vital issue. When you post here about your efforts it inspires me and others. Those that are working on this without posting, we can tell you are out there in the fight, so much appreciated. This fight reminds me why our country is uniquely great and who keeps it so. When my truck tires leave the pavement, hiking past a trailhead sign, even bushwhacking to get away from other users, I sense you all around: holding up our public lands.

 

[Wildabeest]

Even if all 3 million acres sold for 100,000 per acre, that only pays for a little over a month of government spending.


My point being that the only 2 reasons Mike is giving for needing to sell are bogus.

Mike Lee himself has referenced a CBO estimate of only $5-10B to be generated for the treasury over 10 years.

See the last bullet in this briefing from his committee regarding the proposed amendment.

https://www.energy.senate.gov/services/files/F45D5D1E-65F5-4631-8C8F-E8C67E0DBCBD

 

[Dougfirtree]

Just took a break from work to call every R Senator on the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. As a New Yorker, my voice is not going to carry a ton of weight, but for all you folks in the west and with Senators who can be/need to be swayed on this one, keep it up! I think you're fighting the good fight for our kids and future generations to come.

 

[KingOfTagSoup]

Just took a break from work to call every R Senator on the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. As a New Yorker, my voice is not going to carry a ton of weight, but for all you folks in the west and with Senators who can be/need to be swayed on this one, keep it up! I think you're fighting the good fight for our kids and future generations to come.

I'm not the only Yankee!!! Anyway this is a huge battle and a must win. Keep up the pressure!

 

[Archer86]

Thank you for contacting our office regarding your concerns about the draft Senate reconciliation bill, which proposes a limited sale of some public lands.

Please note that this is not the final proposal, and there is a significant amount of unconfirmed information circulating about it. Since the bill has not yet passed through the Senate, the Governor cannot offer any detailed comment at this time.

We are working closely with our Congressional Delegation to ensure that Wyoming's interests are protected. In addition to reaching out to our office, please consider contacting the Congressional delegation directly to share your thoughts.

Generally, Governor Gordon supports responsible federal land exchanges.

Sincerely,

Julia
Constituent Services

This is what I got back from the wyoming governors office. Figured I might as well put them in my daily emails and phone call list as well

 

[Kearnsie14]

Sent emails to our Senators and got family to do the same. Got "thank you for your views" form letters back from each that never addressed the issue. Our problem is that our Senators have a combined 10 months of time on the job, both having taken office in January. They're both still on rookie donut and coffee duty. My concern is that they just don't have the clout yet to make a big squawk without cover from other Senators. I can hear it now:

Senators Moreno and Husted: Senator Lee, we object to your public lands sale amendment.

Senator Lee: You'll do as you're told and vote as you're told and when you're done with that get me a maple cream stick and a large coffee with cream and make it snappy.

 

[beagle001]

Just made my calls to Senator Johnson, and added Senator Thune to my call list. I’m not a constituent, but I’ve spent literal months of my life vacationing and hunting in South Dakota and told him as such, and that public land sales are slippery slopes and will come to his state soon enough if we let this one slide.

Gave my Rep a call for funsies, and while he is new and I’m a little incredulous of him, his staff has been great to talk to, every time I get them, and I’ve told them as such.

 

[Oneye]

Bill Jordan and Realtree step in to oppose Mike Lee’s amendment. They rarely if ever have commented on issues like this. It’s significant they stepped in here. A staple of the hunting industry. If you can, visit their Instagram or Twitter page and thank them.

 

[Oneye]

Should probably also mention Mossy Oak has come out opposed as well. These two are obviously giants in the hunting space.

 

[peterk1234]

I just hit up Downy. What the heck, might as well let the House know how I feel. His response.


June 23, 2025

Dear Mr. Kovago:

Thank you for contacting me about public lands. I appreciate hearing from you on this important issue.

As a lifelong outdoorsman, I am committed to conserving our public lands and wilderness areas so that generations to come can enjoy them as I have.

The House recently passed H.R. 1, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, to make the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act permanent. I was proud to work with the Montana Delegation to successfully remove provisions authorizing the sale of public land from the bill.

I am a cosponsor of H.R. 718, the Public Lands in Public Hands Act, which prevents the sale or transfer of public lands managed by the Department of the Interior and U.S. Forest Service without Congressional approval. H.R. 718 has been referred to the House Natural Resources Committee and House Agriculture Committee.

I will work with my colleagues to bring this legislation to the House floor for a vote as soon as possible.

Thank you again for taking the time to contact me. Please do not hesitate to reach out to me about other issues. I encourage you to sign up for my newsletter and visit my website at https://downing.house.gov for more information.


Respectfully,

Troy Downing
Member of Congress



Click here to subscribe to my eNewsletter

 

[Lostinthewoods]

Emailed Missouri, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Kansas, and Florida people today.

The real happiness is I got 7 buddies to also email today. It’s amazing how much you can influence people when you just look them in the eyes and tell them to get on it.

 

[quarterhorse]

I just finished with some emails. I'll make a few calls now.

I'm hoping everyone remembers this in the next election cycle. We need to clean house in a few places.

 

[Justabirdwatcher]

The silver lining to Lee's stupidity is that this could effectively put this issue to bed for at least a few more administrations. One can hope, anyway.