Rep. Salinas Introduces Farm Bill Amendment to Boost Rural Economies by Supporting Wood Product Innovation

Click here to watch Rep. Salinas' full remarks.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, U.S. Congresswoman Andrea Salinas (OR-06) offered her full Timber Innovation for Building Rural Communities Actas an amendment during the House Agriculture Committee's Farm Bill markup. Parts of her legislation were included in the Farm Bill. However, as Ranking Member of the Forestry Subcommittee, Rep. Salinas urged her colleagues to include her full legislation and to do more to boost the development of innovative wood product technologies, such as mass timber construction, which not only supports Oregon's critical timber industry, but also addresses the housing crisis.

A transcript of Salinas' remarks is available below:

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Oregon is home to about 30 million acres of forest land. That's about half of the land in our state.

According to the Oregon Department of Forestry, our forestry sector supports over 60,000 jobs throughout the state - and that's a really conservative estimate. These jobs include forest management, forestry support, forest products industries, recreation, and more.

Furthermore, Oregon's privately-owned forests generate upwards of $10 billion in sales and manufacturing every year.

To say that Oregon forests are foundational to our state's economy and character would be a clear understatement.

As Ranking Member of the Forestry Subcommittee, I worked in a bipartisan manner on the forestry title. And I appreciate that the forestry title includes pieces of my bipartisan bill the Timber Innovation for Building Rural Communities Act.

Specifically, this title includes Section 8432, which would reduce the match requirement for the Wood Innovation Grant Program by half, and Section 8433, which would establish a platform for measuring and tracking carbon emissions, sequestration, and storage of wood products.

I am offering Amendment 35 to advocate for the full bill to be included, and for this Committee to do more to foster the development of innovative wood product technologies, like mass timber construction.

My amendment would insert two provisions of the Timber Innovation for Building Rural Communities Act in this Farm Bill that were not initially included.

The first provision is the Wood Building Education Accelerator Grant Program. These grants would fund programs that support the critical elements of designing and building with wood, including traditional wood products, mass timber, and other advanced wood products.

And the second provision is the Rural Infrastructure and Building Pilot Program. This program would fund pilot programs that demonstrate the use of innovative wood products in the construction and renovation of rural infrastructure and building projects, like affordable housing.

Right now, rural families are suffering under the weight of high prices, and too many families simply cannot afford the basic necessities to survive. My amendment not only supports the important timber industry in my state and district, but it would also address the housing crisis.

Housing is one of the single biggest costs to a family budget, and making it affordable is key to supporting our communities. I urge my colleagues on this Committee to support inclusion of this amendment in the Farm Bill and this important step toward housing affordability.

I look forward to working with Chairman Thompson and our Senate counterparts to get this legislation across the finish line.

I yield back.

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