LEGISLATIVE LOG
INFRASTRUCTURE BILL FACES A BUMPY ROAD By DANA COLE, Executive Director Hardwood Federation
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he Biden Administration and Congressional Democrats, who cling to razor thin majorities in the House and Senate, continue to try to stitch together a workable compromise on a package of infrastructure spending and social program investments. This process began in earnest back in August, when the Senate approved a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill and followed that up with passage of a budget resolution, which provided instructructions to a number of committees to fashion a $3.5 trillion social spending bill. The latter is being pursued through a parliamentary process known as reconciliation, which requires only a simple majority in the Senate instead of the normal 60 vote threshold, but includes fairly strict limitations that prevent the process from being used on just any legislation. The process was deployed earlier this year to enact the $1.9 trillion pandemic relief measure, as well as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in 2017 and the Affordable Care Act during President Obama’s first term. While legislative leaders had hoped for swift enactment of these two measures, progress has encountered headwinds. In the Senate, all 50 Democrat Senators must be on board for the reconciliation process to prevail, as Republicans are unified in their opposition to the reconciliation package. Two moderates, Senators Kristen
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Sinema (D-AZ) and Joe Manchin (D-WV), have consistently voiced concern and opposition to spending levels that have been on the table. Likewise in the House, Speaker Pelosi has had to balance the interests of the progressive members in her caucus with moderates in the Blue Dog and New Democrat Coalitions. Our expectation is that a trimmed down package will ultimately be enacted, but later this year, likely around the holidays. The Hardwood Federation team, like most other organizations in town, has been playing both offense and defense in this exercise. On the offense side, there are several provisions in the infrastructure bill that are positive. In the forestry space, the legislation includes measures aimed at reducing the risk of wildfire through forest management. One of the ongoing challenges to making thinning projects economical is access to processing facilities. In many areas in the West, for example, existing wood processing infrastructure is not in close proximity to federal forests that desperately need active management. To address this, the legislation creates a new federal system for subsidizing sawmills and other wood processing facilities, along with $400 million in new financial assistance. The provision specifies that “close proximity” to a sawmill would become a factor for agencies to consider when funding federal land restoration.
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