When I first saw the headlines today about Trump signing an EO that would be a review of federal monuments, I totally yawned.
But this EO that Trump just signed is far more important than the headlines suggested. In effect, he’s beginning a review of land that was seized by the federal government under the Antiquities Act by the Obama administration. And he says this review will ultimately end “an egregious use of federal power” and return these lands back to the states:
President Trump says the executive order on federal land ends "an egregious abuse of federal power" https://t.co/sZ4lqPvEcZ
— CNN Newsroom (@CNNnewsroom) April 26, 2017
Wow. That’s really a big deal and Trump gets major kudos for making this happen.
But Trump wasn’t there to take all the credit. In fact he singled out Mike Lee in a lengthy exchange for continuing to press this issue over and over in order to make this happen. It was a great moment for Lee.
I’ve included the entire executive order signing with Trump’s speech below for you to watch: