The Hardwood Federation produces a “D.C. Cheat Sheet” newsletter to keep the industry up-to-date on the latest news from Washington D.C. Check out the February 26th edition below and sign up to receive your copy.
Fly-In 2026 – Hold the Date! The Annual Hardwood Federation Fly-In to D.C. will take place on June 8-10, 2026. The hardwood industry will converge on Capitol Hill to meet with members of Congress, reinforce the value of the industry to rural economies, and advocate for policies that support hardwood companies. Details will be shared soon. Don’t miss this opportunity to make your voice heard during a pivotal election year.
Farm Bill Markup Delayed: Due to weather-related travel complications earlier this week, the House Agriculture Committee postponed its planned markup of the Farm, Food and National Security Act of 2026 from Monday to March 3. The measure includes a number of Hardwood Federation priorities, among them:
- Provisions renewing and updating both the Wood Innovation and Community Wood Grant programs.
- Language altering the Rural Innovation for a Secure Economy (RISE)—a workforce development grant program—to include the forestry and forest products manufacturing sectors.
- Language codifying the concept of biomass carbon neutrality and binding USDA to assign a greenhouse gas emissions factor of zero to emissions from forest-based biomass energy.
- Reauthorizing and improving the Forest Inventory and Analysis program.
- Numerous other provisions incentivizing biomass heat and power projects.
As we mentioned, the bill will get out of committee hopefully with at least some Democrat support, but its prospects are questionable going forward.
Ag Chair Cites Bipartisanship of Farm Bill Draft: In anticipation of next week’s full committee markup of H.R. 7567, the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026, House Committee on Agriculture Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-PA) has released a detailed document showing the party breakdown of the standalone legislation incorporated into the bill. Of the 181 bills that influenced H.R. 7567, 82 percent had bipartisan cosponsors. Along with these bipartisan bills, FFNS 2026 contains provisions from 14 Democrat-only bills and 18 Republican-only bills. This number does not include additional provisions in H.R. 7567 that originated from bipartisan member priorities that did not have a formal marker bill filed.
Trade Alert: White House Imposes a New “Worldwide Tariff”:
Following the Supreme Court’s rejection of the president’s use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose tariffs, the White House issued a new Executive Order last Friday night imposing a 10 percent “Worldwide Tariff” on most goods entering the United States. The tariff will remain in effect for up to 150 days unless Congress votes to extend it. On Saturday morning, however, President Trump stated he intends to raise the rate to 15 percent, though that increase has not yet been formalized by executive order.
The new tariff is being imposed under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, which permits the president to apply a temporary import surcharge to address “large and serious United States balance-of-payments deficits.” Section 122 authority is limited to a maximum rate of 15 percent and a duration of 150 days.
While a detailed tariff schedule has not yet been released, a White House fact sheet outlines broad exemptions, including certain critical minerals, bullion and currency metals, energy and energy products, fertilizers and natural resources not produced domestically, select agricultural products, pharmaceuticals and pharmaceutical inputs, certain electronics, vehicles, aerospace products, imports already subject to Section 232 tariffs, and goods entering duty-free under USMCA or CAFTA-DR.
All existing Section 232 and Section 301 tariffs remain in place. The suspension of duty-free de minimis treatment for shipments under $800 also continues to apply to all countries.
For further information, see the Executive Order.
Source: Hardwood Federation