Press Releases

Under the Mineral Leasing Act, the federal government leases federal land for the development of energy, minerals and other materials, and shares the revenue with the states in which the leases are held. The revenue is currently split evenly between the states and the federal government. Section 302 of the budget deal would only decrease what the states receive, leaving the federal portion intact. That would mean a total reduction of $415 million for the states, with roughly $32 million coming from Utah.

Today, Senator Mike Lee and eleven original cosponsors introduced legislation to protect religious organizations from discrimination by the federal government for supporting traditional marriage. The “Marriage and Religious Freedom Act” bars the government from denying any person or group tax-exempt status for exercising their religious conscience rights. The bill is cosponsored by Senators Vitter, Rubio, Roberts, Hatch, Coburn, Blunt, Inhofe, Wicker, Risch, Cochran and Graham.

Today, Senator Mike Lee announced that current Utah State Representative Derek Brown has accepted the position of Deputy Chief of Staff and State Director for the senator’s office. Rep. Brown will resign his seat in the Utah Legislature effective January 2, 2014 and will assume his new role on January 3rd. Senator Lee’s Chief of Staff Boyd Matheson had been filling the State Director duties for the past year.

I do not envy House Republicans in their task of negotiating a budget with a Senate majority and president hostile to the very idea of having one. But the deal they have struck is not one I can support.

Today, Senator Mike Lee hosted a roundtable with Utah citizens, experts, government officials, and community activists on the growing crisis of immobility among the poor. The event is a continuation of Sen. Lee’s “Let’s Talk” series he began in August, taking him around the state to hear directly from Utahns about the critical issues facing the state and the country.

Today, U.S. Senators Orrin Hatch and Mike Lee, and U.S. Representative Rob Bishop applauded the U.S. Air Force’s official announcement that Hill Air Force Base will be the first operational squadron of the F-35 stealth fighter starting in 2015.