Hardwood Federation Update: What’s In Store for the New Year?

The final quarter of 2025 was a roller coaster. Tension and parti-san bickering punctuated much of the last months of the year as the most extended government funding lapse in history (43 long days) dragged on. On Wednesday, November 12th, the U.S. House of Representatives finally passed legislation (H.R. 5371) to end the shut-down. The vote to fund the government was mainly along party lines (222-209), and the President signed the measure shortly thereafter.

Although passage of the bill was a massive relief for the many people, communities, and companies reliant on federal programs and functions that were paralyzed by the shutdown, it is not quite the end of the story. The bill only extends funding for most federal government operations through January 30, 2026, which means Members of Congress will face another period of intense negotiations as soon as they return to D.C. following the Christmas holidays, if they hope to avoid another disruption to federal government operations.

However, some government entities were provided full funding through the end of the 2026 fiscal year (ending September 30, 2026). The bill signed in November includes full fiscal year 2026 appropriations for the Departments of Agriculture and Veterans Affairs, as well as Legislative Branch Operations. The good news for the hardwood industry is that by including full 2026 funding for USDA, vital pro-grams for the agricultural sector, including program funding for the export promotion programs that support the American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC), should not be disrupted for at least another year. However, departments and agencies outside of Agriculture and Veterans Affairs will have to wait until January to confirm their bud-gets as Congress and the White House continue to negotiate.

Before the end of the year, work began on the Senate’s four appropriations bills, which were reported out of Senate committees earlier in 2025: Defense, Labor-Health and Human Services-Education, Commerce-Justice-Science, and Transportation-Housing and Urban Development. Waiting in the wings was FY 2026 funding for the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill, which funds critical programs including the Wood Innovation Grant (WIG) and Community Wood Grant (CWG) programs. Although WIG and CWG are administered by the US Forest Service, located within the Department of Agriculture, funding flows from the Interior budget. On a positive note, the Senate proposal for Interior funding includes $30 million for the WIG program and $15 million for CWG. Although the House concurs with the $30 million for WIG, CWG funding has been eliminated; an issue that the Hardwood Federation and our wood products allies have already addressed with House appropriators. WIG and CWG programs will not be authorized for funding until the Interior bill passes Congress and is signed by the President.

The Interior bill also includes our policy rider, enacted in 2017 and renewed every year since, which calls upon EPA, DOE, and USDA to recognize the carbon neutrality of forest-based biomass energy. With staunch supporter Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) chairing the Senate Appropriations Committee, we anticipate that the biomass rider will once again be reauthorized for FY 2026, provided the bill can garner enough votes for final passage.

Government funding and finances are generally complicated and hard to understand, but this past year has been particularly challenging in keeping everything straight. The Hardwood Federation has worked closely with House and Senate Agricultural leadership to clarify a complex situation. We will continue to track, engage, and report as we move to the next phase of the budget process.

A second likely priority in early 2026 is reauthorizing the federal highway program, which may allow for progress on raising truck weight limits on interstates. We are encouraged by the introduction of truck-weight reform legislation in this Congress. One bill currently pending is our long-supported Safe Routes to School Act (H.R. 2166). Rep. Tony Wied (R-WI) is the lead sponsor of this measure, which would allow trucks traveling at the maximum gross vehicle weight on state roads to access that state’s portion of the interstate for short distances. As we know, several states have an 80,000-pound weight restriction but allow “tolerances” to exceed that weight for trucks carrying agricultural commodities, including timber. This bill would enable log trucks carrying that extra weight to access the interstate when it is safe and practical to do so.

The other bill, a close cousin to Safe Routes, is titled the FRESH Act, or the Freight Restriction Elimination for Safer Hauling Act of 2025, and is being promoted by Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA). The bill would allow trucks hauling “perishable commodities” to access the interstate highway system at weights in excess of 80,000 pounds. The term “perishable commodity” encompasses raw logs and forest products, pulpwood, chips, and biomass. This bill has not yet been introduced, but we expect it to drop early in 2026.

Both Representative Collins and Wied sit on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, which is the panel that will draft new surface transportation reauthorization legislation, colloquially known as the highway bill. The most recent update to the highway bill was the Infrastructure Investments and Jobs Act (IIJA), enacted in November 2021. The highway bill provisions of that measure are set to expire on September 30, 2026. The Federation team will work with our partners in the forestry and forest products value chain to include either of these measures in the final surface transportation reauthorization legislation as it is developed in the coming months.

In addition to these two measures, a coalition of large manufacturers in the food, beverage, and pulp and paper sectors is promoting legislation that would authorize a 10-state pilot program to allow 91,000-pound rigs equipped with a sixth axle on the interstate high-ways. This bill is aimed at providing relief for shippers whose rigs weigh out before they “cube” out. In many instances, rigs are leaving distribution centers half or three-quarters full because they have hit the 80,000-pound limit. This inefficiency results in more truck trips, increased traffic, and air pollution. Variations of this bill have been under consideration for several years. The farthest it has made it in the legislative process was a House floor vote in 2015. Like the FRESH Act, this bill is expected to be introduced early in 2026.

Unfortunately, the Class 1 railroads have and will continue to op-pose all these measures aimed at making truck transportation safer and more efficient. However, in meetings we have had with transportation committee leadership in the House and Senate, as well as with rank-and-file committee members, we are sensing an appetite to finally address truck weight reform in the upcoming highway bill rewrite. The legislation we are promoting offers practical, common-sense policy solutions to the challenges that truckers and shippers face every day on our nation’s roadways.

As with the budget process, we will continue to track and engage on the transportation provisions most important to the hardwood industry. It is almost certain that other essential issues will emerge in early 2026, and we will be prepared to engage in the debate. Stay tuned for updates!

By DANA COLE, Executive Director of the Hardwood Federation