Utah Sen. Mike Lee has kicked off a procedural fight in Washington that could put the Biden administration’s new management plan for Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument on a fast track to repeal. By inserting a Government Accountability Office opinion into the Congressional Record this week, Lee opened the door for Congress to use the Congressional Review Act to try to undo the Bureau of Land Management’s 2025 resource management plan. The move would not change the monument’s boundaries, but it could wipe out the rules that govern camping, grazing, mining and other daily uses across roughly 1.9 million acres, setting up a high-stakes battle over how one of the West’s signature public-lands landscapes is run.
What Lee did this week
As reported by The Salt Lake Tribune, Lee on Wednesday formally placed the GAO decision into the Congressional Record, a technical but crucial step that lets lawmakers file a joint resolution of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act. Utah Rep. Celeste Maloy requested the GAO review in mid-2025, and the watchdog agency responded in January 2026 with a written opinion that the monument plan meets the statutory definition of a “rule.”
Why the GAO opinion matters
In decision B-337705, the Government Accountability Office found that the Grand Staircase Record of Decision and Approved Resource Management Plan fits the Administrative Procedure Act’s definition of a rule and is therefore fair game for CRA review. GAO concluded the plan sets binding management direction that changes what is allowed across the monument and that no CRA exception applies, clearing the way for Congress to consider a joint resolution of disapproval. The opinion from the Government Accountability Office is the legal hinge for the current push on Capitol Hill.
How the plan got here
The Bureau of Land Management finalized the monument’s Resource Management Plan in January 2025 after a multi-year public process that, according to a BLM announcement, included Tribal consultation, stakeholder input and technical analysis. The Bureau of Land Management said the plan replaces previous RMPs and took effect immediately. The monument itself was restored to its original boundaries by the Biden administration in October 2021, an action documented in White House and Interior Department releases at the time.
What a CRA vote would do
If a member of Congress introduces a joint resolution of disapproval, the Congressional Review Act starts a tight clock: generally 60 days of continuous session after a rule is received for lawmakers to submit a resolution and for the Senate to use expedited procedures. Guidance from the Congressional Research Service explains the CRA’s accelerated schedule and voting rules. If both chambers pass the resolution and the president signs it, the rule is void, and BLM is barred from issuing a substantially similar management plan without specific authorization from Congress, a consequence highlighted in GAO materials and stakeholder briefs.
Tribes and conservation groups push back
Tribal representatives, conservation groups and scientists argue that overturning the RMP would wipe out years of work. Autumn Gillard of the Grand Staircase–Escalante Inter-Tribal Coalition said the plan “reflects years of public input, scientific research, and meaningful Tribal consultation,” a concern reported by The Salt Lake Tribune. National and regional advocacy groups including Earthjustice and the Natural Resources Defense Council have issued statements warning that using the CRA here sets a dangerous precedent for public lands, and Earthjustice has described Lee’s maneuver as formally kicking off a review process that could “fast-track” repeal of the plan.
Legal implications
Attorneys and policy experts say the strategy raises difficult questions about what comes next if the RMP is struck down. The CRA can erase a final rule in full but does not rewrite the underlying authority of an agency, leaving BLM and the courts to untangle day-to-day management obligations and the law’s ban on issuing a similar rule in the future. Scholars note that the lack of precedent for using the CRA against a national monument management plan could mean years of litigation and administrative uncertainty if Congress succeeds.
What to watch next
Environmental groups and Utah’s congressional delegation say a resolution could be filed in the coming days, and Utah News Dispatch reported that Maloy is expected to lead the charge in the House. With the CRA clock ticking and thin margins in Congress, the next few weeks will decide whether the management plan survives or whether Grand Staircase becomes the latest front in a wider public-lands fight on Capitol Hill.
