"Members of the purportedly bipartisan caucus voted on party lines to confirm Trump’s controversial pick to lead the Bureau of Land Management."
"The Senate on Monday narrowly confirmed Steve Pearce, a former New Mexico congressman with a long history of pushing for federal public land sell-offs, to serve as director of the Bureau of Land Management.
The vote, entirely on party lines, puts a man who has argued that “we do not even need” most federal lands in charge of overseeing nearly 250 million acres of them. It also lays bare the extent to which public lands remain wildly partisan in the halls of Congress, despite overwhelming public support.
Pearce’s nomination was widely seen as a major test for the Senate Stewardship Caucus, which formed in October with the stated goal to advance efforts to “protect and expand access to public lands.” But instead of speaking with one voice on their issue, the caucus’s membership fractured along party lines.
On Monday, three of the four Republican members of the caucus — Sens. Tim Sheehy (Mont.), Steve Daines (Mont.) and Katie Britt (Ala.) — voted to confirm Pearce to the powerful post. Sen. Thom Tillis (N.C.), the fourth Republican caucus member, did not vote."
