With the government owning up to 40 percent of land in America, some, like President Bush and Congressman Tom Tancredo of Colorado believe that more could be placed in private hands to help stimulate the economy and improve environmental management. Comments Congressman Tancredo: “The federal government currently owns more than 650 million acres of land, and not all federal land is useful to the government, or even to the communities in which it resides. I introduced a bill in Congress this year that would sell a mere 15% of our federal land holdings, with the proceeds going to Katrina relief. Conservative estimates say that it would generate tens of billions of dollars. The land sale would help relieve the federal government’s skyrocketing deficits.”