Zinke Draws Line Against ‘Poison Pill’ Public Lands Sales in Budget Bill

By Micah Drew, Daily Montanan

Vast tracks of public land could be sold as part of President’s “Big Beautiful Bill.” (Jordan Hansen / Daily Montanan)

While the U.S. Senate has taken the front seat on discussing the GOP’s massive tax-and-spending bill, members of Congress’ lower chamber continue to weigh in on specific measures that could make passage through the U.S. House difficult.

Specifically, several U.S. Representatives have drawn a line against any provisions that would sell off federal public lands — a similar coalition that stripped a smaller land sale provision from the One Big Beautiful Bill during its first vetting by the House.

In a letter sent to House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, five representatives, led by Montana western Representative Ryan Zinke, called public land sales a “poison pill,” and if the bill returns to the House with a provision for selling federal land, the legislation will not pass muster.

“We support the (One Big Beautiful Bill Act) passed by the House and generally accept changes to the bill that may be made by the Senate,” Thursday’s letter states. “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.”

Republicans hold a slim eight-seat margin in the chamber — three Democratic representatives have died this year leaving vacancies — and if all Democrats were to oppose the bill, a five-representative block of Republicans voting against it would sink the reconciliation legislation, which needs a simple majority to pass.

When the bill first passed through the House, Zinke worked to strip out an amendment that proposed the sale of thousands of acres of federal land near urban areas in Nevada and Utah.

But once in the Senate, public land sales have become an even bigger debate after Utah Republican Senator Mike Lee introduced a new provision targeting the mandatory sale of between 2 million and 3 million acres of U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management land. While federal land in Montana was exempt from the provision, it drew opposition from myriad outdoor recreation and conservation groups as well as from several Republican senators, including Montana’s Steve Daines and Idaho’s Jim Risch and Mike Crapo.

On Monday, the Senate parliamentarian — the nonpartisan advisor to the Senate who interprets rules — ruled that the public lands sale does not meet the requirements for inclusion in a reconciliation bill.

But within hours, Lee had stated he will work on smaller proposal targeting just BLM land within five miles of a population center, aimed at reducing housing costs in regions across the West, to be included in the legislative package.

In an interview with CNN that Zinke posted to the social media site X, formerly Twitter, he disagreed with the premise that vast swaths of public land should be sold to be used for affordable housing.

“Affordable housing is tens of acres, not millions of acres,” he said in the interview.

The letter sent by Zinke and representatives from Idaho, Oregon, Washington and California, said that there are “deep concerns” about Lee’s push to sell off public lands.

“This would be a grave mistake, unforced error and poison pill that will cause the bill to fail should it come to the House floor,” the letter states.

The elected officials all represent western states with vast tracts of federal land — 52% in Oregon, 46% in California and a whopping 80% in Montana’s western House district.

“We understand and agree with Senator Lee and our House colleagues that the federal government has mismanaged federal lands for decades, however, we do not agree with their solution. We believe advancing the House Republicans legislative agenda on public lands and natural resources, along with using existing law for land disposals, is the correct path forward,” the letter said.

The representatives say they hope the Senate parliamentarian will strip out any additional language about public lands sales from the bill.

Frank Szollosi, executive director of the Montana Wildlife Foundation, said the coalition of conservation groups he works with are continuing to provide a “positive stream of encouragement,” to Montana’s federal delegation urging them to keep up their record of opposition to public land sales.

“A threat to public land anywhere, is a threat to public land everywhere,” Szollosi told the Daily Montanan. “We’re all public land owners regardless of what state they’re in.”