[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 126 (Wednesday, July 23, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Page S4626]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Ms. COLLINS (for herself, Mr. King, Mr. Welch, and Mrs. 
        Shaheen):
  S. 2399. A bill to establish a payment program for unexpected loss of 
markets and revenues to timber harvesting and timber hauling businesses 
due to major disasters, and for other purposes; to the Committee on 
Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
  Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, I rise to introduce a bill with my 
colleague Senator King that will help the hard-working loggers across 
this country affected by severe storms and natural disasters. This 
legislation would direct the Secretary of Agriculture to provide 
payments to eligible logging businesses that have experienced at least 
a 10 percent loss as a result of a federally declared disaster. In 
Maine alone, logging has a roughly $582 million annual economic impact 
and is the backbone of the forest products economy.
  In Maine and in many places across the country, the logging industry 
has felt the effects of severe weather events and warmer than normal 
winters. Each winter, Maine experiences many storms. Two particularly 
bad storms, in December 2023 and January 2024, were designated Federal 
disasters. These storms were detrimental to many industries, but 
especially logging, as the winter months are usually the best months 
for loggers to harvest timber when the frozen ground makes access 
easier. The rainstorms saturated the ground, and the mud made it much 
more difficult to operate and transport heavy logging equipment without 
disturbing the soil underneath.
  These storms also closed bridges and roads on important trucking 
routes, hindering the movement of equipment and employees to logging 
sites. For example, the December 18 storm washed out a bridge on a 
vital trucking route that forced an 80-mile detour for wood being 
distributed to both northern and southern markets. According to the 
Professional Logging Contractors of the Northeast, this December wind 
and rainstorm in Maine resulted in more than $2.5 million in losses.
  Despite these documented losses, there is currently no Federal 
program to assist loggers who have been affected by federally declared 
disasters. That is why I am introducing the Logger Economic Assistance 
and Relief Act, which would authorize income replacement for logging 
contractors equal to 10 percent of eligible gross lost revenue from the 
previous calendar year. Funds received under this program can only be 
used for operating expenses. Our legislation is modeled off of the 
successful Pandemic Assistance for Timber Harvesters and Haulers 
Program, which I created during the COVID pandemic to provide much 
needed aid to our timber harvesters.
  I am grateful for the Professional Logging Council of the Northeast 
and the American Logging Council's support of our legislation, and I 
urge my colleagues to join in this effort to support one of our 
country's core economic drivers in times of natural disasters.

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