[VIDEO] Congresswoman Lee Questions Interior Sec. Burgum on Public Land Sales, Housing, and Proposed Cuts to the Bureau of Land Management

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WASHINGTON – During the Fiscal Year 2026 Department of the Interior budget hearing in the House Natural Resources Committee, Congresswoman Susie Lee (NV-03) received affirmation from Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum that local input is essential to public land management, with Secretary Burgum specifically emphasizing that “land sales are always sensitive, and they’re always determined by the local partners.” His testimony comes as Congressman Mark Amodei (NV-02) and Senate Republicans are actively attempting to sell off Clark County and Nevada public lands as part of the partisan budget reconciliation process without local collaboration and consent.  

Lee also questioned Secretary Burgum regarding staffing cuts and proposed budget cuts at the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) — and how these cuts will strain an already understaffed agency and hamper the permitting process for the construction of housing and critical infrastructure in Nevada. 

For decades, the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act (SNPLMA) has ensured that proceeds from federal land sales in southern Nevada stay in Nevada to support investments in water infrastructure, parks, and schools. Republicans’ budget proposal, now under consideration in the Senate, would send these proceeds to the federal government to pay for billionaire tax cuts — despite Lee’s successful bipartisan efforts to strip a similar provision from the Republican-authored budget bill in the House. 

Lee and Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) have introduced and are leading the Southern Nevada Economic Development and Conservation Act, known as the Clark County lands bill, which maintains and builds upon SNPLMA to protect Clark County’s essential natural and Tribal resources while growing the economy and supporting new home construction. 

Below is a transcript of Congresswoman Lee’s questions and Sec. Burgum’s answers: 

Rep. Lee – I represent southern Nevada, and I understand you were in my district just a month ago. You stopped by some BLM-managed land, which I'm very happy to hear, since BLM is the largest land manager in our state and managing 70% of the land in Nevada, nearly 50 million acres. And I also understand that you participated in a roundtable billed as a conversation with stakeholders, developers, housing advocates about our very real and severe housing crisis in southern Nevada. And I'm sure you heard a familiar concern about how long it takes for the stakeholders to successfully navigate the BLM permitting process. In fact, yesterday the [Southern Nevada] Home Builders Association was here visiting me and basically said that sometimes it can take up between six and seven years to get easements and rights processed by BLM. Obviously, this is a big issue, and I was just curious — when you were there, if you mentioned to the stakeholders your proposal to cut the BLM's primary Lands and Resources account by over 30%, nearly half a billion dollars?  

Secretary Burgum – That was not part of the discussion, but I would say that we heard lots from the local stakeholders about the permitting issue. And that's obviously a priority that we have is how to streamline it. And, of course, fortunately, we got the Southern Nevada Lands Act, which is a great model, because while I was there, I did get an opportunity to see the new, beautiful under-construction visitor center that's going on at the BLM land near Henderson, and then also visit the new visitor center at the Hoover Dam, which is also paid for by dollars that came out of land sales from the Southern Nevada Lands Act. But then to get recirculated back into doing things that really support the public. So, it's a great model and a credit to Senator Harry Reid, and those that created that in the first place.  

Rep. Lee – Well, thank you. You know, we have a bill Senator Catherine Cortez Masto on the Senate side and I on the House side, that is a replica of that, SNPLMA, that we're trying to move through the house. And in fact, in the wee hours of the night, Congressman Amodei in the reconciliation process, forwarded an amendment that basically would disregard that process completely, selling off millions of acres of land in Nevada without local and stakeholder input. I'm very opposed to that. I also understand that Senator Lee on the Republican side is attempting to do that. So, I would love if you would publicly state that, you support local stakeholder input, when it comes to the management of land because that certainly is not the process that is being put forward right now by Republicans in both the House and the Senate. Can I get your affirmation on that?  

Secretary Burgum – Well, yes. The land sales are always sensitive, and they're always determined by the local partners. And, anything that has to do with land, I know this as a governor. I know this from the private sector, that whoever's adjacent to that land and may not even be adjacent is going to have something to say about it. So, to do this thing well, do them right, and actually get the outcomes we're looking for, which in the end is, as you've described, affordable housing. Housing is one of the key things we're looking for. But we ought to preserve recreational opportunities and preserve all the mandates that we have. But there's a big opportunity, particularly in Nevada, Utah, Idaho, Alaska, these are states that have such a high percentage of federal land. There's a lot of things we can do on the margin, even with the small amount of acres that could still have a big positive impact on those communities.  

Rep. Lee – Thank you. You know, just one question I have that I'm not understanding. You know, we have private developers basically time and again say the number one barrier for them to bring a development online to sell homes, you know, it's a supply and demand issue, is how long it takes with the limited staff at BLM and the proposal to cut the staff by over 25%, like, I don't know how you get rid of that backlog without the staffing. Can you tell me how you plan on doing that? Because it just seems counterintuitive when we're trying to get these projects online and developers walk away, you know — they're not going to have their money held up for six and seven years. So how can we strike that balance, and really support the type of staffing you need to get this process rolling? 

Secretary Burgum – Staffing is one element, but the other element is we've just strapped our federal employees with such bad IT. I mean, we're 20 to 30 years behind. I mean, literally there's paper being moved around and there's a big opportunity to actually streamline the processes where they can do less mind numbing, repetitive work and help them, you know, create jobs that are purposeful and meaningful and that they actually can get work done. We are putting up a transparency dashboard that's going to help all of us, all of you, to be able to go in and look at a particular permit and see where it is in the process. Why is it being hung up? And that's going to help us inform there. But I think in many cases it's if we cut red tape, add IT, we need less people. We can get permits done faster. 

Rep. Lee – Yeah, I completely agree with it. It seems to be a little reversed right now because we don't have the IT, we don't have the processes, but yet we cut the staff. So, I’d love to work with you on this. This is obviously a major issue, not just in Nevada, but across the country. And thank you for your service. 

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