{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://boebert.house.gov/media/press-releases/vice-chair-lauren-boebert-leads-western-caucus-calling-out-biden", "Vice Chair Lauren Boebert Leads the Western Caucus in Calling Out Biden Administration\u2019s Reckless Proposal to put the Bureau of Land Management Headquarters in the Hands of D.C. Bureaucrats", "2021-12-10", "2021", "2021-12", "Republican", "House", "CO", "Lauren Boebert", "B000825", "boebert.house.gov", "boebert", "https://boebert.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "In response to new information received regarding the proposal to relocate the Bureau of Land Management Headquarters to Washington, D.C., Vice Chair Lauren Boebert (CO-03) led 21 Members of Congress and Congressional Western Caucus Members in sending a letter to U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Deb Haaland in strong opposition. The flawed reprogramming proposal sheds further light on the plan to relocate senior staff further away from the lands they are responsible for managing and cause significant harm to local communities, displacing BLM employees, negatively impacting local communities in the region, and resulting in less effective management of our public lands. Click here to read the letter.\n\n\u201cThe Trump Administration\u2019s decision to move the Bureau of Land Management Headquarters and hundreds of jobs to the West and closer to the lands they manage was widely praised and enjoyed strong bipartisan support in Congress as well at the state and local levels,\u201d said Vice Chair Lauren Boebert (CO-03). \u201cOnly the Biden regime would ask Appropriators to bless an expensive move back to the Swamp two years from now without telling them how much it costs. Stealing 25 good-paying jobs from the Grand Junction community goes back on the Department\u2019s promise to the bipartisan Colorado delegation to \u2018grow and expand\u2019 the Bureau\u2019s presence in Grand Junction. It\u2019s time Secretary Haaland stopped playing politics with people\u2019s lives and stopped screwing over rural communities.\u201d\n\n\u201cSince day one, the Biden Administration has been adamant on implementing a one-size-fits-all approach that puts land management of the West back into the hands of D.C. bureaucrats,\u201d said Chairman Dan Newhouse (WA-04). \u201cThe Bureau of Land Management oversees one out of every ten acres in the United States, and when we visited Grand Junction, we heard firsthand about how the BLM Headquarters has benefited local communities, economies, and \u2013 importantly \u2013 their ability to manage public lands throughout the West. This new information confirms what I and so many of my Western Caucus colleagues feared when the Biden Administration originally announced this move. It is clear they continue to be out of touch with rural America, and we urge them to reconsider this disastrous proposal.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe Biden Administration has repeatedly shown how out of touch they are with Americans across the country, and the decision to move DOI headquarters back to D.C. is no exception,\u201d said Vice Chair Bruce Westerman (AR-04). \u201cJust as the employees were getting settled in Grand Junction and the agency was hitting its stride with local communities and stakeholders, DOI abruptly reversed course and is relocating central authority to the capital. The men and women who serve at DOI can\u2019t effectively do their jobs when the federal government uses them as a political football, not to mention the fact that we still have no idea how much this relocation is going to cost the American taxpayer. I strongly oppose the move, and I\u2019m grateful for Congresswoman Boebert\u2019s strong work on this issue.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe Department of Interior\u2019s decision to move the Bureau of Land Management\u2019s headquarters back to Washington, D.C. is disappointing and poorly thought out,\u201d said Rep. Russ Fulcher (ID-01). \u201c99% of land managed by the Bureau of Land Management are located West of the Mississippi River and 97% of Bureau of Land Management employees already live in the Western United States.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe 2020 move of the Bureau of Land Management\u2019s headquarters from D.C. out West, where most of the land they manage is located, was common sense,\u201d said Vice Chair Doug LaMalfa (CA-01). \u201cMoving the headquarters, and all of the employees, back to D.C. will cost taxpayers millions, harm the employees already in these roles, and create an irreparable divide between the program and the public lands it is meant to serve. I urge Secretary Haaland to reconsider and keep the Headquarters in Colorado.\u201d\n\n\u201cOver 99 percent of the land managed by the Bureau of Land Management is in the West,\u201d said Rep. Matt Rosendale (MT-AL). \u201cThe Trump Administration\u2019s decision to move the BLM\u2019s headquarters out West was a commonsense measure to make sure policy makers are close to the land which they are tasked with managing and in touch with the concerns of the Americans most affected by their policies. I am deeply disappointed by the Biden Administration\u2019s politically motivated decision to reverse this and concentrate bureaucratic power back in Washington, D.C. and urge the administration to seriously reconsider it.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe Biden Administration\u2019s costly and irresponsible decision move the Bureau of Land Management Headquarters to Washington, D.C., is yet another ill-conceived decision by this Administration. The BLM manages millions of acres of land, nearly all of it west of the Rockies. Therefore, placing BLM headquarters in the Rockies makes perfect sense. It would ensure that the people managing federal lands be geographically proximate to the people, lands and issues needing management,\u201d said Rep. Paul Gosar (AZ-04). \u201cBLM must understand that the Western Headquarters is very beneficial to the region. Only an out of touch elite would think removing managers farther away from the property they manage is better. I look forward to a future where the next Republican President can reverse this terrible decision and bring the focus of BLM back to the lands it manages.\u201d\n\n\u201cConcentrating power in Washington benefits no one but D.C. bureaucrats,\u201d said Rep. Tom Emmer (MN-06). \u201cThe Biden Administration\u2019s proposal to move the Bureau of Land Management\u2019s headquarters back to the swamp from the West, where 99% of BLM-managed land is located, makes no sense and will cost taxpayers millions. I\u2019m proud to oppose this costly, misguided effort.\u201d\n\nThe Text of Rep. Boebert\u2019s Letter Blasting the Biden Regime\u2019s Reprogramming Agenda is Available Here.\n\nBackground:\n\nOn August 10, 2020, the Trump Administration\u2019s Department of the Interior (DOI) formally established the Bureau of Land Management Headquarters (BLM) in Grand Junction, Colorado. Prior to this relocation, the agency\u2019s headquarters was located thousands of miles away from the land and people most directly impacted by the Bureau\u2019s management decisions. Of the 245 million acres managed by BLM, 99% of the land is located in the West.\n\nRep. Boebert and the Western Caucus have actively opposed the partisan decision to move the Bureau of Land Management headquarters to D.C.:", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:37:48Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://boebert.house.gov/media/press-releases/vice-chair-lauren-boebert-leads-western-caucus-calling-out-biden"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.9118590280413628, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}