Rep. Mark Amodei (R-NV) lost some sleep Tuesday night.

In a marathon meeting of the House Natural Resources Committee that ended just before midnight, Nevada’s lone Republican in Congress pushed through an amendment into his party’s budget legislation that calls for selling off hundreds of thousands of acres of public lands in this state and Utah.

Not a nickel of the sales proceeds is earmarked to remain in Nevada. Nothing for parks, infrastructure, conservation, wildland firefighting. Nothing clever or creative that actually benefits the state. The expected multibillion-dollar windfall from the sales will flow straight into the U.S. Treasury to help float the Trump administration’s budget, which includes a multitrillion-dollar tax cut.

Not surprisingly, the Democrats who dominate Nevada’s congressional delegation howled in protest over Amodei’s maneuver. And why not? Thousands of those acres in question are located outside Amodei’s Congressional District 2 in Northern Nevada.

Here’s a small sample.

In Congressional District 3, Rep. Susie Lee (D-NV) called it a move made in the “dead of night” and “a slap in the face to Nevadans.” She has since brought attention to the potential damage caused by the sale of land to further the development of a Utah pipeline project that will divert water from Lake Powell and is opposed by six of the seven Colorado River basin states and of particular concern to Nevada and Arizona.

In Congressional District 1, Rep. Dina Titus (D-NV) calls the budget amendment a short-sighted ripoff of Southern Nevadans. 

“It sells off 65,000 acres in Clark County without any offsets for conservation,” she said. “I believe a lands bill should encourage infill to use existing infrastructure and conserve water. This bill does just the opposite.”

In his own defense, Amodei told the Natural Resources Committee a tale about the federal land in Nevada’s urban areas essentially preventing communities such as Las Vegas and Reno from providing housing and further development. 

“Unlike most other states, Nevadans rely on Congress to make these lands available,” he said.

Of course it does. That’s why a lot of people under the guiding hand of then-U.S. Sen. Richard Bryan (D-NV) spent years working through their differences to craft a consensus-driven policy that resulted in the 1998 signing of the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act. Bryan was the primary sponsor of the landmark bill, but true to his generous spirit, he recognized the efforts of others. 

Jim Bilbray began the process while serving in Congress. Public lands expert Brent Heberlee helped carry it forward on behalf of Bilbray, and later for Bryan. Sara Besser, Bryan’s Southern Nevada director, kept disparate groups at the table for discussions that benefited everyone.

In his memoir, My Life in Politics, Bryan recalls his early skepticism: “When Sara approached me, I was less than enthusiastic. I told her that it had all the trappings of a children’s crusade. Fashioning a compromise with people who seldom could agree on anything seemed like an impossible dream to me. Sara was an environmentalist at heart, and she was eager to have me take the lead.”

He did. The result transformed a wise idea into a multibillion-dollar boon to Nevadans. Thanks to the lands bill, about $4 billion from the sale of federal land in Southern Nevada has remained in the state.

That’s $4 billion to zero.

It begs the obvious to acknowledge that Amodei is no Bryan, but those who scramble to write off the vitriol as partisan theater are missing the big picture. It’s not just bad policy. It looks forced, and his amendment is also being slammed by Montana Republican Rep. Ryan Zinke, who, the last time I checked, is no tree hugger.

Perhaps one day we’ll know the reason Amodei’s amendment includes the sale of more than 350,000 acres of Pershing County. He said it was to resolve the checkerboard of public and private land in the county, a horrible malady to be sure. Just keep in mind it wasn’t to ease overcrowding or housing concerns in a county which, according to the 2020 census, boasted a declining population of 6,650.

Real political leadership takes courage and the ability to build consensus. Amodei not only lost sleep with his late-night maneuver, he managed to show he’s lacking in both traits.

Worse yet, I think he’s forgotten who he works for.

John L. Smith is an author and longtime columnist. He was born in Henderson and his family’s Nevada roots go back to 1881. His stories have appeared in New Lines, Time, Readers Digest, Rolling Stone, The Daily Beast, Reuters and Desert Companion, among others.