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Interior Secretary Doug Burgum is making strange requests of Interior department staff, according to reporting in The Atlantic. Burgum has requested political appointees in his office learn to regularly bake cookies for him using industrial ovens in the department. He has also made political appointees act as servers for a multi-course meal, used a U.S. Park Police helicopter for personal transportation, and, on at least one occasion, requested staff remake a batch of cookies he deemed “subpar,” according to three people. One person familiar with the behavior described Burgum as “Doug the diva.”
Senate clears path for public land sell-off
The U.S. Senate voted to reject an amendment that would have prevented the sale of national public lands by Congress, opening the door to the privatization of public lands and forests. The amendment was introduced as part of a voting session on President Donald Trump's budget plan that stretched from Friday night into early Saturday morning.
Senators Martin Heinrich of New Mexico and John Hickenlooper of Colorado introduced the amendment in response to reports of lawmakers' tentative plans to sell federal land in the West in order to offset deficits incurred by Trump's tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy. The amendment failed 48 to 51. Senators Steve Daines and Tim Sheehy, both of Montana, joined other pro-public lands lawmakers in voting for the amendment.
“Westerners know our forests, national parks, and public lands are priceless,” Hickenlooper said in a press release Friday. “Some Republicans want to sell them off to bankroll tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy. Our public lands are not – and should not be – for sale.”
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Public lands belong to all Americans, not wealthy donors and corporate executives... Selling off these places to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy should have been dead on arrival, and it’s shameful that the Senate has failed to stand up against that idea. We applaud the senators who voted to support public lands, and we call on them to convince their colleagues to reject any final budget bill that includes the sell-off of public lands.”
