Lawmakers can use the Congressional Review Act to overturn a Biden-era management plan for the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah, the Government Accountability Office has concluded.
The GAO, in a report issued last week, concluded that because the Bureau of Land Management never submitted to Congress the management plan finalized in January 2025, it is subject to a CRA vote, which allows lawmakers to overturn recently finalized rules with simple majorities in both chambers of Congress.
The report, requested by Rep. Celeste Maloy (R-Utah), has renewed concerns among conservation groups that Congress will seek to chip away at protections for the national monument — which President Donald Trump dramatically reduced in size in 2017 during his first term in office — by eliminating the management plan that emphasized protecting the monument’s natural resources.
It’s not clear whether Maloy or any other member of Utah’s congressional delegation, which includes Republican Sen. Mike Lee, who chairs the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, will file a CRA resolution to revoke the management plan.
