U.S. House Republicans narrowly passed a budget reconciliation bill early Thursday morning that pushes forward President Donald Trump’s domestic policy on health care, energy, immigration, and more.   

The “One Big, Beautiful Bill Act” passed the House by one vote, with votes predominantly falling along party lines. Two House Republicans, Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Warren Davidson of Ohio, joined the entire House Democratic Caucus in voting against the bill. 

Included in the package were provisions pushing Trump and Republicans’ policy around increasing domestic energy, timber and mineral production, and restoring the federal multiple-use mandate on public land. These were passed earlier this month through the House Natural Resources Committee, where Republicans claimed that the new oil and gas leases, energy development, and rollbacks of environmental protections in the bill could generate around $15 billion in savings. 

In a recent interview with The Steamboat Pilot & Today, Republican U.S. Rep. Jeff Hurd, who represents much of western Colorado and who voted to approve the final House bill, said it is “about finding balance” and approaching public lands “pragmatically.”  

Hurd added that he believes the bill does a good job advancing the agenda he and other Republicans campaigned on. This includes his campaign promise that decisions around federal public lands should be made with the input and buy-in of those who would be affected as well as “making sure we unleash the energy agenda.”

“In areas, especially in Western and Southern Colorado, energy production isn’t just an issue — it’s a livelihood,” he said. “I think, when it comes to this reconciliation legislation, that we’re reflecting that mentality.” 

U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, a Republican who represents the 4th Congressional District in eastern Colorado, issued a press release applauding the bill’s passage as “a​​ major step towards implementing the America First mandate voters delivered to us last November.”

“This critical legislation makes the Trump tax cuts permanent, unleashes American energy producers, invests billions in support of our farmers and ranchers by responsibly reforming SNAP benefits, strengthens Medicaid to focus on American citizens who truly need help, and delivers a final net deficit reduction of $1.5 trillion,” she stated. 

House Democrats in the committee, who have criticized Trump’s reconciliation package as a way to fund tax cuts for billionaires, referred to the legislation as one of the most destructive and extreme anti-environment bills in the country’s history. 

Some of the natural resource committee’s most controversial proposals — including a last-minute amendment that proposed the sale of over 500,000 acres of public land in Nevada and Utah — were stripped from the final version in a manager’s amendment. 

Also removed from the bill was a section that would have repealed five resource management plans approved under former President Joe Biden, including two plans in Colorado for the Bureau of Land Management’s Colorado River Valley and Grand Junction field offices.

Colorado Democratic Rep. Joe Neguse fought against the plans’ removal from the package through a failed amendment at the committee hearing and after the hearing in a submission to the Rules Committee, according to an aide from his office. In a statement, Neguse said he was “proud that we were successful in our pursuit of removing the provision from the bill.”

“Republicans’ effort to overturn Resource Management Plans for two Bureau of Land Management field offices in Colorado was an attempt to roll back years-long community efforts, backed by public input and on-the-ground expertise,” he stated. 

The two Colorado plans were finalized last fall, and according to the bureau, made around 85% of lands that have “high potential” open to future oil and gas leases, while closing “low and medium potential” areas to leases. The plans also extended wilderness protections and conservation areas.  

Even with these changes, Democrats and environmental advocates are concerned about what remains in the package. 

“I continue to be deeply concerned for the sweeping threats this bill still poses to critical conservation and public oversight programs,” Neguse stated. 

Still included are proposed changes to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), including changes that would allow private entities to pay a fee and bypass public review; funding cuts to the National Park Service; mandating quarterly lease sales for oil and gas on federal land (including in Colorado); requiring offshore and Arctic drilling and more. 

In a statement, Tracy Stone-Manning, president of The Wilderness Society, referred to what remains as “one big giveaway.” 

“By opening hundreds of millions of acres to drilling, mining, and logging to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy, this bill harms the tens of millions of people who like to hike, recreate, or find solace in the outdoors,” Stone-Manning stated. 

Now, the big bill is heading to the Senate, where advocates are hopeful changes will continue to be made. Louis Geltman, the vice president of policy and government relations for the recreation member group Outdoor Alliance, said in a statement that the act is still “very bad for public lands and waters.”

“But at the same time, it’s really encouraging that a growing group of lawmakers are standing up for public lands, and that doesn’t happen without our community showing up,” Geltman stated. “We can continue to make a difference as this conversation shifts to the Senate.”

Reporter Robert Tann contributed to this story.