Republicans Forced to Remove Sale of Public Lands From Budget Bill

Republican Senator Mike Lee’s proposed mass sell-off of public lands has foundered on the rocks of Senate procedure.

As a budget reconciliation bill, the Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill can pass with a simple majority, rather than the 60-vote hurdle needed to overcome a filibuster. However, it is subject to certain constraints: Under what is known as the “Byrd rule,” provisions that are unrelated to the budget get the chopping block.

Accordingly, Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough has in recent days been stripping certain extraneous provisions from the plan.

Among the dirt washed away in this so-called “Byrd bath” was a provision authored by Lee that would have put for sale up to 3.3 million acres of public land in 11 Western states, including Lee’s state of Utah. The plan received criticism from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle and from hunters, fishers, and conservation groups concerned that it would impact treasured natural sites in the American West.

While Lee claimed the land could be used to address the need for affordable housing, critical observers saw the proposal as merely an effort to pay for tax breaks under Trump. And, under the plan, there would have been “no significant guardrails to prevent valued public lands from being sold for trophy homes, pricey vacation spots, exclusive golf communities, or other developments,” according to the Center for American Progress.

Lee, for his part, has vowed to return with a diluted version of the proposal, writing on X, “Yes, the Byrd Rule limits what can go in the reconciliation bill, but I’m doing everything I can to support President Trump and move this forward. Stay tuned. We’re just getting started.”

Yet another Democrat is calling for Trump’s impeachment after he dropped multiple bombs on Iranian nuclear sites without congressional approval.

On Tuesday, Texas Democrat Al Green filed articles of impeachment against President Trump on the grounds of “abuse of presidential powers by disregarding the separation of powers—devolving American democracy into authoritarianism by unconstitutionally usurping Congress’s power to declare war.”

“President Trump’s unilateral, unprovoked use of force without congressional authorization or notice constitutes an abuse of power when there was no imminent threat to the United States, which facilitates the devolution of American democracy into authoritarianism,” Green continued. “I did not come to Congress to be a bystander while a president abuses power and devolves American democracy into authoritarianism with himself as an authoritarian president. President Trump’s unauthorized bombing of Iran constitutes a de facto declaration of war.”

Green joined Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in calling for Trump’s impeachment.

“The President’s disastrous decision to bomb Iran without authorization is a grave violation of the Constitution and Congressional War Powers. He has impulsively risked launching a war that may ensnare us for generations,” AOC wrote Saturday on X. “It is absolutely and clearly grounds for impeachment.”

These calls, along with the bipartisan War Powers Resolution introduced by Democrat Ro Khanna and Republican Thomas Massie, are certainly much stronger messages than what Democratic leadership has been putting out, with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries admitting Monday that he hadn’t even looked at Massie and Khanna’s resolution.

But the calls will likely amount to nothing, as impeachment is incredibly unlikely to be approved by the House (Trump has been impeached twice already). It also raises questions about the politics of who is allowed to circumvent congressional approval to drop bombs on another country. Former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden each dropped thousands of bombs on various nations without receiving congressional approval, but they didn’t receive any calls for their impeachment.

Representative Robert Garcia was elected Tuesday to become the Democrats’ newest ranking member on the House Oversight Committee, potentially marking a changing tide in the Democratic Party. 

Forty-seven-year-old Garcia, who is only on his second term in Congress, defeated Representative Stephen Lynch, one of the most senior Democrats on the committee, in a 150–63 secret-ballot vote. 

Lynch, 70, had previously served as the ranking member when former Representative Gerry Connolly took a leave of absence in April. Connolly’s passing last month allowed Republicans in Congress to pass Donald Trump’s gargantuan spending bill, undermining a Democratic agenda and summoning broad scrutiny on the liberal party’s efficacy and reluctance to elevate younger voices. Notably Connolly, whose condition was publicly known, was chosen over the much younger Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. 

Earlier this year, the Trump administration targeted Garcia for his opposition to the Department of Government Efficiency’s corporate-style takeover of the federal government. 

“What the American public wants is for us to bring actual weapons to this bar fight. This is an actual fight for democracy,” Garcia said in February. Shortly afterward, he received a letter from Washington’s district attorney as if he’d made a threat on Elon Musk’s life. 

But Garcia doubled down on his comments, undeterred. “It’s important for folks to be able to know that Democrats need to be in a fight. This is a fight that we’re in for our very democracy. And the fact that the Trump DOJ now wants to silence members of Congress, because we’re actually willing to take on Elon Musk is quite dangerous,” he said at the time.

Garcia represents a broad coalition: He was formally endorsed by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and backed by members of the Progressive and Equality Caucuses. He also enjoyed support from the 43-member delegation from California, the largest in the Democratic Party. 

Progressive and moderate Democrats alike have already begun celebrating Garcia’s new gig.  

California Representative Judy Chu told NBC News that Garcia had “shown steady and strong leadership that brings people together.” 

“He has a young, fresh energy that I think the Oversight Committee needs,” she added.

Florida Representative Maxwell Frost congratulated Garcia on his new position. “He’s a tough progressive with a strong work ethic. As a corrupt admin breaks laws & enriches themselves while people suffer, he will lead the fight to hold them accountable & show the nation,” Frost wrote in a post on X. 

Representative Jared Moskowitz, notably not a progressive, wrote on X that Garcia was “the right person for the right moment.”

Even House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi said she’d supported the staunch progressive. “Well I’m a Californian.… I’m partial to mayors,” she told reporters Tuesday, referring to Garcia’s tenure as the mayor of Long Beach.  

Attacking Iran has achieved nothing, according to Donald Trump, who evaded questions from reporters Tuesday as to whether or not the Middle Eastern country had made commitments about uranium enrichment.

“They’re not going to have enrichment and they’re not going to have a nuclear weapon, and they know that,” Trump said aboard Air Force One. “They’re going to get on to being a great trading nation. You know, they’re very good traders and they’re gonna be a great trading nation. And they have a lot of oil.”

Trump directed airstrikes without congressional approval on Iran’s nuclear facilities Saturday. The attack damaged facilities in Fordo, Natanz, and Isfahan, with damage estimates expected to be “very significant,” according to International Atomic Energy Agency Director Rafael Grossi.

Iran has argued that it is seeking uranium for peaceful purposes, such as expanding its nuclear energy program. It has undergone years of nuclear site inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency, and as of last week was allowing IAEA inspectors to remain in the country, according to Grossi.

The only nuclear-armed state in the Middle East is presumed to be Israel, which will not confirm or deny possessing what the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons estimates are approximately 90 nuclear weapons.

Trump insisted Tuesday that “the last thing on Iran’s mind right now is nuclear weapons.”

At least 606 people have been killed in Iran since Israel first attacked on June 13, according to Iran’s health ministry. Approximately 107 people died on Monday alone, making it the deadliest single day of the conflict.

Trump announced a successful ceasefire between Iran and Israel Monday evening, before the two nations had jointly come to an agreement on the terms of ending their conflict. Hours after the ceasefire deadline had passed, the two nations continued lobbing missiles at one another.

“We basically—we have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don’t know what the fuck they’re doing,” Trump told reporters at the White House earlier Tuesday before he set off for a NATO summit at The Hague, where rifts are expected to widen over defense spending and a dampening American interest in defending Ukraine against Russia.

Trump won in November in no small part due to his campaign pledges to end the wars in Ukraine and in Gaza, but just six months into his second term, he has instigated a third war while failing to resolve the first pair, earning the ire of some of his longest and staunchest defenders, including Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene and Thomas Massie.

Senior Justice Department official Emil Bove, whom President Donald Trump has nominated for a lifetime appointment on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, expressed his willingness to ignore court orders in order to speed up the president’s mass deportations, according to a whistleblower report.

The stunning disclosure comes from former Justice Department official Erez Reuveni—who was fired by the Trump administration after acknowledging in court that the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia was an “administrative error.”

Reuveni’s new allegations, which were submitted to Senate and House Judiciary Committee leaders, as well as the U.S. inspector general and acting special counsel, were published by The New York Times on Tuesday.

His account details a meeting with Bove and subordinate officials at the DOJ and officials within the Office of Immigration Litigation on March 14.

According to Reuveni’s complaint, in the meeting, Bove informed those in attendance of Trump’s then-forthcoming proclamation, which would invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 in service of his mass deportation agenda. Planes containing deportees subject to the Alien Enemies Act would take off over the next two days, Bove reportedly said.

Bove reportedly “stressed to all in attendance that planes needed to take off no matter what,” though he also noted “the possibility that a court order would enjoin those removals before they could be effectuated.”

The suggested response? “Bove stated that DOJ would need to consider telling the courts ‘fuck you’ and ignore any such court order,” per Reuveni’s report.

The remark was followed by “stunned” looks and “awkward, nervous glances.”

“Silence overtook the room,” the report says, and “Reuveni and others were quickly ushered out of the room.”

This revelation—which adds to Bove’s record of targeting January 6 investigators and helping drop corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams—comes a day before he is set to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee for his nomination to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.

Democratic Senator Dick Durbin, ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, issued a statement saying the allegations “not only speak to Mr. Bove’s failure to fulfill his ethical obligations as a lawyer, but demonstrate that his activities are part of a broader pattern by President Trump and his allies to undermine the Justice Department’s commitment to the rule of law.”