WASHINGTON — The hearing began without much fuss or fanfare. Senators quietly took their spots in their semicircular seating arrangements as Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, banged the gavel against the wooden desk.
It was a short business meeting for the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee to consider a handful of lower-level nominations. It was mostly quick and efficient. But in other ways, it was cordial — at times, even playful.
“I’m told that we have colleagues in the building traveling to the committee hearing room by way of Neptune, apparently,” Lee said with a smile as committee action was paused due to the absence of some members.
“We will patiently await them. Sen. (Jim) Risch has offered to do a song and dance routine,” Lee added, prompting laughter from the room.
It was a rare moment of levity in a usually stoic institution. But it offers a glimpse into Lee’s leadership style and how he plans to guide his party through difficult challenges ahead.
Lee is confident his conservative values, as well as his close relationship with President Donald Trump, will help with that.
To the untrained eye, Lee is quite the enigma. He is prolific on social media, with the Utah senator posting several times an hour with seemingly no topic left untouched.
But in the halls of Congress, Lee carries himself a bit differently — he walks briskly through the hallways, rarely stopping to chat with reporters he is not familiar with.
When he does engage with questions, Lee carefully considers his words. This is a contrast from his online persona, but is emblematic of his background in law: cautious, calculated, deliberate.
That lesser-known personality is the key to Lee’s modus operandi. Although he is not known for being a bipartisan dealmaker, Lee has occasionally crossed the aisle on issues such as sentencing reform — and the Utah senator has good relationships with some Democrats despite policy disagreements.
“I’m looking forward to continuing to work with Sen. Mike Lee to deliver for the people and places of New Mexico, Utah, and all of America,” Sen. Martin Heinrich, Lee’s Democratic counterpart on the committee, told the Deseret News. “I’ve always believed in working across the aisle — especially when it comes to protecting access to our public lands."
Mike Lee guides Republicans through sticky issues in Trump‘s massive spending bill
Lee was tapped as Energy and Natural Resources chairman at the beginning of this year, taking over the powerful committee at a crucial time for Republicans. Utah’s senior senator has big plans for the committee, particularly when it comes to issues such as public lands and permitting reform.
“A lot of our Western communities have managed public lands with unmatched expertise for generations and have been able to balance multiple interests from ranching, grazing, recreation and conservation,” Lee told the Deseret News in an interview. “We’ve achieved this despite sometimes hostile, overbearing federal policies that can distort that balance and threaten our way of life.”
The issue of public lands is expected to become a flashpoint in the coming weeks as some Republicans push to sell thousands of acres of federally-owned land in Utah and Nevada in the party’s upcoming reconciliation package.
Lee has advocated to sell or transfer public lands for years, pushing instead to allow the state to control the roughly 35 million acres of federally-owned land in the Beehive State, roughly 67% of the state. Other Republicans have supported selling the land or to increase federal revenue by greenlighting new oil and gas leases.
Making those changes will be challenging. A handful of Republicans have already opposed any proposals to sell public lands due to conservation and environmental concerns.
“There’s a lot of frustration down in the West. I understand that,” Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Mont., who co-founded the bipartisan Public Lands Caucus, said last week. “But I prefer the management scheme. And I give an example as a hotel — if you don’t like the management of a hotel, don’t sell the hotel. Change the management. That‘s where I sit on that position.”
The public lands issue could also put Lee at odds with ranking member Heinrich, who told the Deseret News one of his top priorities would be to “keep public lands in public hands.”
“It is also vitally important that we make sure that hardworking families can continue to access their public lands, whether it‘s for hunting, fishing, hiking or just clearing their minds,” Heinrich said. “The work we do on this committee is about building a stronger future for our kids — we must do that by working together to advance smart energy policy, keep public lands in public hands, and pursuing common-sense collaboration.”
Another key issue Lee will need to navigate as part of the reconciliation process includes intraparty disagreements over what to do with former President Joe Biden’s signature Inflation Reduction Act.
Several Republicans have been adamant they want to eliminate the IRA in full, including Lee. However, some GOP lawmakers in both the House and Senate are pushing to preserve a handful of green energy credits, warning that a full repeal would result in higher utility costs nationwide.
Lee said he is aware of those concerns and that conversations are ongoing to address them. But he cautioned against cherrypicking parts of the law to uphold while discarding others.
“I know there’s a wide range of opinions on this,” Lee said. “I think the minute you start trying to draw perimeter lines around certain projects, it‘s going to be very difficult to contain the damage.”
The Republicans wary of repealing the law in full include Utah Sen. John Curtis, who recently signed on to a letter against a full repeal, warning it could lead to “significant disruptions” and weaken the United States on the global stage.
However, Curtis told the Deseret News he and Lee have been able to have “good conversations about energy policy and where things go in reconciliation and beyond.”
“Utahns are fortunate to have Sen. Lee as chair of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee and have a seat at the table when it comes to the management of our public land,” Curtis said. “Our rural communities face incredible burdens because of decisions made by bureaucrats in Washington.”
Lee also noted the IRA originally passed Congress with only Democratic votes, arguing Republicans should not “be eager to do their work for them in keeping any of that in there.”
Lee pushes to minimize government overreach
Overall, Lee said his main focus on the committee is to rein in the power of the federal government to ensure fewer decisions are made by “unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats,” which he says often costs taxpayers more money.
As part of those efforts, Lee has made it a top priority to pass the Regulations from the Executive In Need of Scrutiny Act, or REINS Act, that seeks to change how regulations are passed and implemented in the federal government. The bill would require regulations with an economic impact of $100 million or more to be approved by Congress, giving lawmakers more control over how agencies operate.
Lee has heavily pushed for the REINS Act for years, arguing it is crucial to rein in the federal government and reestablish separation of powers.
“If Congress had to vote on many of the same regulations that are costing taxpayers that much money, most of those couldn’t pass because people would realize at some point it‘s overkill to adopt such exacting standards when it‘s not at all clear what benefit we’re gaining from it and how that benefit matches up against the cost,” Lee told the Deseret News.
Lee also plans to focus much of his time on permitting reform, which he said would be “one of the most important things that we’ll do through the Energy and Natural Resources Committee in this Congress.”
Lee has long expressed a desire to streamline the permitting process to boost energy production, telling the Deseret News he wants to not only reform the authorization phase — which lawmakers spend a majority of their time on, he said — but also the build-out phase, which encompasses the actual construction of projects that are approved.
Although Trump‘s reconciliation package has occupied most discussions in Congress over the last five months, Lee said talks about permitting reform are already underway and will likely ramp up in the coming months.
Lee reflects on his relationship with Trump
Aside from his work on energy and natural resources, Lee is known for his conservative voting record and close relationship with the White House.
Lee has positioned himself as one of Trump‘s most vocal supporters in Congress and this has allowed him to wield strong influence in the Senate. Lee said that relationship has been “very helpful” in taking over the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, noting the president is “very bullish on energy.”
“Every time I need to get him personally on something, I’m always able to reach him very quickly,” Lee told the Deseret News.
That ease of access, Lee said, is sure to help with the forthcoming reconciliation package on issues that are likely to drive a wedge between Republican lawmakers.
“Where there is a difference of opinion within the party … it can be helpful to have somebody who can exercise leadership in resolving the dispute,” Lee said.
On issues such as disagreements on the Inflation Reduction Act and green energy tax credits, Trump will “absolutely” be able to find consensus.
“Very often the president can be the one to resolve disputes among members of his party in Congress,” Lee said.
