Public Land Sale Proposal ‘Won’t Happen,’ Says GOP Appropriator

Idaho Republican Rep. Mike Simpson on Monday warned that any legislative effort to sell off millions of acres of public lands would fail.

“It won’t happen, I can tell you that,” Simpson said of potential moves by Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Mike Lee (R-Utah) to reintroduce language to sell large swaths of public lands in the western US to create more housing on federally-owned tracts.

Simpson’s comments came during an exclusive interview with Bloomberg Government that covered a range of topics, including public lands, the likelihood of a government shutdown, and federal firefighting.

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