A provision in the Fiscal 1996 Budget Resolution, S. Con. Res. 13, would allow agencies to sell federal assets to reduce the federal deficit. Previously, the sale of a valuable asset for cash could not be considered as revenue -- for the same reason that an individual who sells a home has no new wealth, but has just exchanged a capital asset for cash. Under the Budget Committees new method of calculating revenues, federal assets could include government buildings, facilities, and public lands such as national parks, forests, and wildlife refuges.

On May 24, 1995, Senator Dale Bumpers (D-AR) offered an amendment to strike the "asset" language in the Budget Resolution, arguing that it would encourage a fire sale liquidation of valuable public lands to create phony revenues. Budget Committee Chairman Pete Domenici (R-NM) moved to table (kill) the Bumpers amendment. The Senate agreed to the Domenici motion 52 - 47. NO is the pro-environment vote.