Cheat Sheet

October 16, 2025

Hardwood Industry Makes Their Voice Heard: On Tuesday the Hardwood Federation transmitted a letter to Trump Administration officials making the case that U.S. hardwood companies should be included in any trade assistance programs addressing agriculture industries negatively impacted by trade and tariff policies.  The letter was sent to U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutkin, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. Over 430 hardwood mills, manufacturers, yards, logging companies, and suppliers signed on to the letter.

The Hardwood Federation continues to focus advocacy efforts on raising awareness of current challenges facing the industry and the need to structure trade agreements that support exports or provide bridge support to sustain hardwood operations until such deals can be achieved.

Defense Bill Includes Housing Provisions: Last week, the full Senate passed the Fiscal Year 2026 National Defense Authorization Acc (NDAA). Included in this comprehensive measure were numerous provisions aimed a spurring housing starts, promoting more affordable housing and encouraging remodeling. The provisions were from the Senate Banking Committee-passed Renewing Opportunity in the American Dream (ROAD) to Housing Act of 2025 which was approved by that panel in July by a unanimous 24-0 vote. A section by section summary may be found here.  The provisions that will become law as part of the NDAA would, among other things, do the following:

• Building More Homes and Cutting Red Tape: Helps communities overcome zoning and other barriers, streamlines environmental reviews for housing projects, and creates grants for communities that build more homes.
• Opening Doors to Homeownership: Removes barriers that make it harder to get smaller mortgages, improves the home appraisal process, helps families save for homes, and ensures veterans know about their home loan benefits.
• Supporting Housing Innovation: Updates rules and financing for manufactured and modular homes and encourages new building technologies that make housing more affordable.
• Helping Communities Recover from Disasters: Permanently authorizes disaster recovery efforts to help communities rebuild while incorporating resilience measures to reduce repetitive losses and maintain insurability.

Government Shutdown Continues: The Congressional stalemate over funding federal government operations continues. The Senate voted again Wednesday for a 9th time on the House-passed Continuing Resolution which again failed. Democrat Senators John Fetterman (PA), Catherine Cortez-Masto (NV) and Independent Senator Angus King (ME) remain the only non-GOP Senators voting for the measure.  The only departure from previous votes over the last couple of days is that the Senate Democrat alternative was not brought up for a vote. The Senate remains in session here in D.C. while the House is in recess. There is little indication at this point that the parties are anywhere near a compromise on a funding deal. We will keep you apprised of developments.