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mark kelly
Mike Lee Tries to Sneak Public Land Sale Back Into 'Big, Ugly Bill' Ahead of Senate Vote
"Republicans are STILL trying to sell off public lands in their budget bill," said Sen. Ron Wyden. "If you care about keeping your public lands please make your voice heard."
Jun 28, 2025
Ahead of a vote on Republicans' budget reconciliation package expected as soon as noon Saturday, U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Chair Mike Lee revived his effort to sell off public lands.
Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough has blocked multiple provisions of the GOP megabill, including several under the jurisdiction of the Utah Republican's panel. Among them is his attack on public lands.
"Here we go again," Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said on social media after Lee released new text for his committee late Friday.
"Republicans are STILL trying to sell off public lands in their budget bill," Wyden continued. "Republicans are trying to get this over the finish line by the end of the weekend. If you care about keeping your public lands please make your voice heard."
"Americans left, right, and center have come together with one voice to say these landscapes shouldn't be sold off to fund tax cuts for the uberwealthy—not now, not ever."
Athan Manuel, director of Sierra Club's Lands Protection Program, said in a Saturday morning statement that "the new version of Mike Lee's public lands sell-off is like cutting 'most' of the mercury out of your diet. The fact of the matter is that Mike Lee has spent the better part of a decade trying to privatize our public lands, and with his new power in the Senate, he's trying to push that agenda even further without public input, without transparency, and shame."
"Americans left, right, and center have come together with one voice to say these landscapes shouldn't be sold off to fund tax cuts for the uberwealthy—not now, not ever," Manuel added. "Congress needs to listen to their constituents, not billionaires and private developers, and keep the 'public' in public lands.”
A document from Lee states that his "amended proposal dramatically narrows the scope of lands to be sold for housing... in communities where it is desperately needed" in the U.S. West. The new version would exclude all Forest Service land and reduce the amount of Bureau of Land Management acres to be sold by half.
"It's still bullshit," responded Noelle Porter, government affairs director at the National Housing Law Project.
Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), the ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, has recently said: "This isn't about building more housing or energy dominance. It's about giving their billionaire buddies YOUR land and YOUR money."
"From the Sierra Club to Joe Rogan, everybody is pissed off about Republicans' public lands sell-off," he wrote on social media Friday. "This is the broadest coalition I've seen around public lands in my lifetime, so keep making sure your voices are heard because we're winning."
Jane Fonda's climate-focused political action committee similarly stressed on social media Friday that "Lee is committed to including a massive public land sale provision in the Big Beautiful Bill. We need you to keep up the pressure and reach out to your senators today and demand they reject any new sales of public lands in this legislation."
And it's not just the land sales in the Friday night text of what critics call the "big, ugly bill." It also "creates new fees for renewable energy projects on public lands, and cuts royalty rates for oil, gas, and coal production on public lands," noted Sam Ricketts, co-founder of S2 Strategies, which is working to build a clean energy economy. "Make it make sense."
As Manuel and Heinrich pointed out, some right-wingers are also outraged by Lee's push to sell off public lands. Benji Backer, founder of Nature Is Nonpartisan and the American Conservation Coalition, took aim at the committee chair on social media Friday night.
"Mike Lee just quietly doubled down on his mass public lands sel-loff by releasing new text," Backer said. "The Senate could consider it as soon as tomorrow. The secrecy is gross—and intentional. Lee knows it's his only path. America, we NEED to stand strong.
Tagging the Senate GOP account and Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), Backer added that "Americans are entirely UNITED in opposition against this. Please ask Sen. Lee to let this provision... stand on its own—at the very least."
Even if the Senate somehow advances Lee's legislation, it could face trouble in the House of Representatives, which is also narrowly controlled by the GOP. On Thursday, Republican Reps. Ryan Zinke (Mont.), David Valadao (Calif.), Mike Simpson (Idaho), Dan Newhouse (Wash.), and Cliff Bentz (Ore.) warned that "we cannot accept the sale of federal lands that Sen. 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," warned the lawmakers, led by Zinke, who was the interior secretary during President Donald Trump's first term. Lee's provision, they wrote, would be a "grave mistake, unforced error, and poison pill that will cause the bill to fail should it come to the House floor."
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Democrat's VP Nominee Must Stand With Workers
Trump wants to put his boot on the neck of the labor movement, which is why Harris should pick a running mate ready to take on greedy corporations and level the playing field for workers.
Aug 05, 2024
The popularity of labor unions is at a 60-year high. Everywhere you look, workers are organizing their workplaces—and winning. Tired of rising costs and rising CEO pay, everyday people are standing up to their bosses and demanding their wages rise as well.
Lawmakers, too, are waking up to the fact that supporting workers isn’t just good politics; it’s the best way to make our economy work for more people.
Until recently, Arizona Senator Mark Kelly was among only a handful of Democratic lawmakers who had not publicly supported the Richard L. Trump Protecting the Right to Organize Act, better known as the PRO Act.
The most significant worker rights legislation in decades, the PRO Act would restore organizing protections that have been weakened by decades of corporate attacks and hold companies accountable that violate workers’ rights.
We’re encouraged by the fact that Vice President Kamala Harris co-sponsored the PRO Act during her time in the Senate. And if elected in November, she has committed to following through on the Biden Administration's pledge to pass the bill and sign it into law.
When the labor movement heard that Senator Kelly was being vetted as a potential Vice President, union and community leaders raised the alarm—most privately, and a few publicly:
“Why would the Democrats even consider a senator for the vice president if the senator doesn’t support the PRO Act?” John Samuelsen, president of the Transport Workers Union, asked ABC News.
“That’s a hard no,” tweeted Richard Bensinger, former organizing director of the AFL-CIO.
Suddenly in the spotlight, Senator Kelly quickly corrected course and joined the overwhelming majority of Senate Democrats committed to passing the PRO Act.
“Unions loom large in our life, and I’m supportive of the PRO Act,” Kelly told the Huffington Post Wednesday. “I would have voted for it on Day 1. I would vote for it today.”
Senator Kelly is not alone in burnishing his pro-union credentials amidst the Veepstakes. We’ve seen Tim Walz, Josh Shapiro, and Andy Beshear tout their support for unions. It’s an important moment in our politics—and a telling one. To be considered a Democratic rising star, voters expect you to be on the side of working people.
The refusal of any candidate to support the PRO Act should raise a huge red flag with voters. The legislation is not only a top legislative priority of the labor movement, but a priority of a broad coalition of progressive, climate, and civil rights groups—including the Working Families Party and fellow members of the Worker Power Coalition. Many of our country’s labor laws are more than eighty years old, and we know that to make the economy work for all of us we need to bring our laws into the 21st century.
We’re encouraged by the fact that Vice President Kamala Harris co-sponsored the PRO Act during her time in the Senate. And if elected in November, she has committed to following through on the Biden Administration's pledge to pass the bill and sign it into law.
Trump, on the other hand, wants to put his boot on the neck of the labor movement. His top advisors have put together a 900-page plan called Project 2025 that calls for gutting worker protections, repealing prevailing wage laws, and undermining our organizing by allowing corporations to create sham management-run unions.
Working people want to know which candidates will take on greedy corporations and level the playing field for workers. By supporting the PRO Act and standing in solidarity with unions, Democrats can show working people that they have their backs.
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Progressives Warn Against Josh Shapiro as Kamala Harris Nears VP Choice
One critic argued Harris would risk alienating "precisely the people she needs to ensure her victory over Trump" if she picks Pennsylvania's governor as her running mate.
Aug 01, 2024
Reports that presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris is leaning toward selecting Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro as her running mate have sparked warnings from progressives who say his record and policy positions on key issues—from Palestine to public schools to climate—are cause for serious alarm and should be disqualifying.
Earlier this week, dozens of progressive leaders from across the United States wrote in a letter to Harris that Shapiro's "support for school vouchers is in direct conflict with our teachers union allies and the Democratic Party Platform, threatening to undermine labor support" in a general election matchup with Republican nominee Donald Trump.
The letter's signatories recommended Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear as possible alternatives to Shapiro, who last year relented to pressure and vetoed a school voucher program that he previously supported.
The Philadelphia Inquirer reported last month that Shapiro "says school vouchers are still a priority for him."
"Democrats need a credible and respected voice that has a track record of winning over and exciting an electorate, especially the ability to turn out young voters, immigrants, and independents in swing states," reads the progressives' letter, signed by the chair of the California Democratic Party's Progressive Caucus, the head of the Nevada Democratic Party, the executive director of Progressive Democrats of America, a member of the Ohio Democratic Party's executive committee, and others.
"Shapiro has... done far more than most Democrats to attack pro-Palestine antiwar demonstrators, in ways that call into question his basic commitment to First Amendment rights."
Shapiro's attacks on pro-Palestine demonstrators and uncritical support for Israel—as well as his support for Pennsylvania's anti-boycott, divestment, and sanctions law—have also drawn progressive ire.
"Shapiro has... done far more than most Democrats to attack pro-Palestine antiwar demonstrators, in ways that call into question his basic commitment to First Amendment rights," writer David Klion argued in The New Republic last week, noting that the Pennsylvania governor compared protesters rallying against Israel's genocide in Gaza to the Ku Klux Klan.
"Then, in an executive order, Shapiro updated his administration's code of conduct to forbid state employees from engaging in 'scandalous or disgraceful' behavior, a vaguely worded instruction that civil libertarians immediately interpreted as threatening pro-Palestine speech," added Klion, who warned Harris that picking Shapiro could "discourage precisely the people she needs to ensure her victory over Trump."
A coalition of pro-Palestine groups has launched a website dubbing Shapiro "Genocide Josh" and warning Harris against picking him as her running mate.
"The left must unite over the next four weeks to ensure that America doesn't fall down the path of fascism, authoritarianism, and runaway corporatism," the website states. "It is in Harris' and the Democrats' best interests to listen to their base and ensure that both their new VP pick and their platform support the majority of Democrats and Americans who want social and economic justice for workers and an immediate cease-fire in Palestine."
Progressive organizers Jeff Cohen and Norman Solomon, co-founders of the advocacy group RootsAction, warned in a Common Dreams op-ed Monday that if Harris "chooses a running mate who intensely connects her to Biden's policies on the Gaza war that are so unpopular with much of the Democratic base, party unity—and the chances of defeating Trump—would be undermined."
On top of his attacks on pro-Palestinian demonstrators and promotion of school vouchers, Shapiro has also faced criticism for supporting corporate tax cuts.
The American Prospect's David Dayen wrote Thursday that Shapiro is currently "trying to accelerate an already scheduled cut" to Pennsylvania's corporate tax rate "from 9.9% to 4.9%" as Democrats at the national level push for a repeal of Trump's massive tax cuts for big business and the rich.
Harris herself attacked Trump during an Atlanta rally earlier this week for wanting to "give tax breaks to billionaires and big corporations."
Harris is expected to announce her vice presidential pick ahead of a scheduled rally Tuesday in Philadelphia, part of a broader campaign swing through pivotal battleground states. According to Politico, a Harris aide "cautioned against reading too much into the first city chosen for the tour," pushing back on speculation that the event's location confirms Shapiro will be Harris' running mate.
A survey released earlier this week showed that Trump is narrowly leading Harris in Pennsylvania, and it's far from clear that picking Shapiro as her running mate would help her win the state.
"Other names in the mix include Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg," Politico reported earlier this week. "Shapiro said on Tuesday that he had not spoken to Harris since July 21, the day that Biden dropped out."
Will Bunch argued in a column for The Philadelphia Inquirer "that it's no wonder that progressives seem to be lining up in the VP contest behind Minnesota's Walz, who like Shapiro has some policy wins on cherished liberal issues like expanding free school lunches but isn't lugging around political baggage like the Pennsylvania governor."
"Whether Harris, said to have close ties to Shapiro, sees it the same way will tell us a lot about her White House bid," Bunch added.
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