On Wednesday, House Republicans voted to adopt — and passed — a resolution in their budget reconciliation package to allow for the sale of public lands in Nevada and Utah for housing and fossil fuel production, The Hill reported.
"Nevada population centers are all encumbered by federal land that can't meet their housing and development needs without disposal of federal lands. Unlike most other states, Nevadans rely on Congress to make these lands available," Republican Rep. Mark Amodei of Nevada said during a House Natural Resources Committee meeting.
Republican Rep. Celeste Maloy of Utah, who joined Amodei to boost fossil fuel production on federal land, said that the land's status also made it harder to address housing demand in her state. She urged the Natural Resources Committee to vote in favor of selling the land.
"Chairman," she said, "the underlying bill before this committee today generates revenue from numerous federal assets, from oil and gas sale leases for both onshore and offshore to other federal fees to be paid, all of which will bring revenue to the Treasury for debt and deficit reduction."
In March, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum announced plans to identify federal lands where developers could build affordable housing.
But Democrats pushed back on the 33-page "last-minute amendment," voicing concern that the House members didn't represent the local residents affected by the legislation. For instance, Amodei doesn't represent Clark County, where the land will be sold.
"I would think at a minimum, Mr. Amodei," said Rep. Joe Neguse, D-Colo., ranking member of the subcommittee on federal land, "that you would do your colleagues in Nevada the courtesy of at least striking that language regarding Clark County, engage with your three other colleagues before this gets to the floor, and then have a conversation with them, but to basically say to them that they have no say as to what happens with respect to land conveyances in their congressional districts, I think the slippery slope."
According to Neguse, Nevada Democratic Reps. Steven Horsford, Susie Lee, and Dina Titus were not consulted about the amendment prior to the vote.
In the end, the amendment passed 26 to 17 with Rep. Adam Gray, D-Calif., voting alongside Republicans.