Congress seizes monument power from the President—slowing protections
S. 220 — Ending Presidential Overreach on Public Lands Act · Filed by Mike Lee (R-UT) · 1 cosponsor · Introduced Jan 23, 2025 · Referred to committee
Your members of Congress
Enter a ZIP to see where your representative and both senators stood on this bill.
Looked up on this device — your ZIP is never stored on our servers.
What it does
This bill strips the President of the power to unilaterally declare or expand national monuments. Instead, Congress must pass a law to establish or extend any national monument. Currently, the Antiquities Act allows the President to do this alone; this bill transfers that authority entirely to Congress.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole operative effect is to reallocate authority over monument designation from the executive branch to Congress. It does not establish policy on which lands should be protected; it changes WHO decides.
What the text implies
- A divided or gridlocked Congress may result in fewer new monuments than would have been designated under executive authority, potentially leaving public lands vulnerable to development or extraction.
- States and extractive industries gain leverage: they can lobby Congress (where they have state-level representation) rather than negotiate with a single executive agency, potentially shifting monument policy toward resource extraction.
- Existing monuments are not affected — the bill applies only to future establishment or extension, leaving current protections intact.
- The bill does not define 'express authorization' — Congress could theoretically authorize monuments through appropriations riders, committee resolutions, or other indirect mechanisms, creating new procedural ambiguity.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill transfers power from the executive to the legislative branch, which could increase democratic accountability through Congressional debate but may also slow or block monument protections that citizens support. The outcome depends on Congress's willingness to act — a divided Congress may protect fewer lands than an active President would.
Who stands to gain
- mining and energy extraction companies
- timber and logging interests
- real estate developers
- agricultural interests seeking access to public lands
Named in the bill
Congress, President, Antiquities Act, Section 320301, Title 54 U.S. Code, National monuments, Public lands
Where it stands
1 cosponsor: 1 Republicans.
- Jan 23, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Jan 23, 2025 — Referred to Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 2 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Sep 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $760,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 30 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.
Mike Lee, the sponsor, reported $241,000 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Specialty Equipment Market Association — $760,000 on 2 filings
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 14, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (384 characters) on May 21, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Sep 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 14, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Congress seizes monument power from the President—slowing protections” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/s220 Report an error
The week in bills
One email, Sunday: what Congress passed, what it changed, and who paid.
One link arrives to confirm the address. It is used for this email and nothing else, and every issue carries an unsubscribe link.