Westerman in 2023. Photo: Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images
House Natural Resources Chair Bruce Westerman is weighing possible sales or transfers of public lands as he writes his portion of the GOP reconciliation bill.
Why it matters: That would bolster the administration's push to use "underutilized federal lands" for housing. But it would also spur strong pushback.
Driving the news: Westerman said he's looked at "areas where you can't get affordable housing" — like gateway communities outside national parks and cities in the West that are surrounded by federal land.
- "I'm not even sure any of that will be in reconciliation, but we have explored that," Westerman told reporters on Monday.
- He specifically mentioned Salt Lake City and Las Vegas as areas to target but stressed that he's essentially talking about "a rounding error."
Between the lines: Even small-scale sales or transfers could inflame Democrats and conservation groups, who are already skeptical of Interior Secretary Doug Burgum's framing of the agency's portfolio as part of the U.S. "balance sheet."
- "There's not going to be any lots on the rim of the Grand Canyon for sale, nothing like that," Westerman said.
- Westerman also said he hasn't discussed it with Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chair Mike Lee, a longtime proponent of federal lands sales in the West.
Meanwhile, Republicans are still figuring out how to deal with the ongoing debate in the conference about the IRA tax credits.
- House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said Tuesday that all the IRA credits are still in play for repeal.
- "By and large, they don't have support for most of them," he told Axios.
- "There might be one or two that people have been asking about keeping, but they're all on the table."
The big picture: There's a lot of talk right now about "scalpels" and "red lines" when it comes to the IRA. The (metaphorical) betting odds on the tax credits seem to change every day.
