Cheat Sheet

October 22, 2026

Strong American Wood Act To Be Introduced: House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Bruce Westerman’s team released final text of his legislation to spur markets for U.S. forest products. The bill, titled the Strong American Wood (SAW) Act, is expected to be introduced this week in conjunction with National Forest Products Week.   The legislation has been under development for some time and the Westerman team has solicited input from across the forest products supply chain, including the Hardwood Federation. The wide-ranging proposal covers a number of areas including addressing the flawed biomass definition in the Renewable Fuel Standard, biomass energy tax credits, promoting mass timber, trade with China and domestic sourcing rules, among other areas.

An analysis of the bill’s provisions is available here.

As we have noted, once formally introduced, the bill will be referred to a number of committees in the House due to its wide-ranging nature. We do not expect it to move in the upcoming Lame Duck session of Congress following the election, but staff indicated that Rep. Westerman is committed to reintroducing the legislation early in the 120^th Congress. We look forward to working with the Westerman team as they move forward in the next Congress.

Act Now! Tell USDA to Include Hardwoods in the Fuel Relief Program: Earlier this week, the Trump Administration announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will make $8 billion available for one-time payments to American farmers this harvest season to provide relief during temporary market disruptions and increased input costs. 

The Hardwood industry, like farmers, is also being significantly impacted by the increase in fuel costs and should be included in this relief package. 

USDA is looking for input on which commodity groups should be eligible for relief. Act NOW to educate USDA about the impacts of high fuel costs on your operation. You may provide comments to USDA at HarvestFuel@usda.gov.  Be specific and provide specific data points in your comments.

The Hardwood Federation will work through our Congressional and Administration officials as well as part of our ongoing effort to make the case for US Hardwood company relief.