Forgive my sense of humor, but this is the funniest thing I've read this week.
Congressional Republicans voted this week to reduce public input on the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) planning process.
That's absolutely hilarious to me for reasons I'll add.
The House’s Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution, which passed 234–186, will force BLM to revert to its 1983 planning process, which does not include comments from the public until late in the process. And despite the clear demand for improvements, under the CRA, the agency will not be allowed to update its land use planning process without congressional approval.
“Nothing in that rule can be re-instated in the next administration unless a new law by Congress is passed,” Shaleas Harrison of the Wyoming Wilderness Association, said in a press statement.
I literally guffawed when I read this, and I'm laughing right now as I type this, because we just experienced several years worth of public and congressional backlash directed at the diabolical BLM; an agency that did nothing more than attempt to enforce federal laws passed by Congress.
The Federal Bureau of Land Management was painted as nothing short of the gestapo by congressional Republicans, pundits and shock jocks like Sean Hannity, but now Republicans in Congress have rolled back an Obama-era reform that made the agency more open to public scrutiny.
The western wingnuts and landowners -- the men who literally took up arms against the bureau -- who accused the Obama administration of lording over their lands can now thank Republicans in Washington (who they probably voted for) for reducing the amount of input they will be afforded before the bureau takes action in the future.
Don't get me wrong, this is probably a step in the wrong direction in public policy, but I love every other part of this story.
The Bundy family and those who sympathize with their cause can fuck themselves to their heart's content by voting for lawmakers who will destroy their land if given a chance to.