GOP bills would block new monuments on public land

WASHINGTON (AP) — Presidents from Theodore Roosevelt to George W. Bush have designated public land as national monuments, using a federal law to protect from development sites judged to have natural, historical or scientific significance.

Now some House Republicans, saying the 105-year-old law has been misused, have introduced bills to limit or block the president's ability to make such designations without approval from Congress.

GOP Rep. Denny Rehberg of Montana compared the 1906 Antiquities Act to the mythical sword of Damocles, calling it a weapon that can be used against rural commun...