On the Fourth of July, celebrations at the White House included President Trump signing a massive budget reconciliation bill into law.
The previous day, Congress had passed the final version of the legislation, which affects basically every part of the government’s financial operations. Analysts expect that, when enacted, the so-called ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ will negatively affect access and affordability of people’s healthcare, federal taxes, clean energy, nutrition assistance programs, and the management of our public lands.
One high-profile threat to public lands—the selloff of millions of acres across the West—was, thankfully, absent from the so-called ‘Big Beautiful Bill’s’ final text. Public outcry and Senate rules forced Utah’s Republican senator Mike Lee to withdraw the proposed sales several days before the Senate voted on the legislation.
As great as it is that the public will retain ownership of our land, the new legislation includes plenty of threats to the long-term health of wild places in the US.