WASHINGTON — U.S. Reps Glenn Thompson, R-Pa., and Terri Sewell, D-Ala., introduced the Solid American Hardwood Tax Credit Act to allow individual taxpayers to include solid American manufactured hardwood products, such as flooring and paneling, as qualified home energy efficiency improvements under the Energy Efficient Home Improvement Credit.

By including hardwood materials as eligible products for this credit, the legislation will provide meaningful environmental and economic benefits, advocates said.

As a building material, hardwood actively sequesters carbon and serves as long-term carbon storage in residential structures. Carbon storage reduces the impact of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and helps support more sustainable practices. By ensuring hardwood materials are fairly counted as an energy efficient home improvement, this legislation will help lower the cost of housing, strengthen American manufacturing, and protect American jobs.

“Pennsylvania is blessed with some of the finest hardwoods in the world, which have provided thousands of jobs across the Commonwealth,” Thompson said.

“This bill supports the Trump Administration’s timber production and housing affordability initiatives, ultimately helping to lower housing costs and strengthen American industry. I look forward to continuing to advocate for domestic hardwood production.”

Sewell spoke of Alabama’s history.

“Alabama’s rich history and association with timber farming and hardwood product sale & production is integral for a strong statewide economy,” Sewell said.

“This legislation will help preserve American jobs in the lumber and hardwood industries by combating bad actors in China that have begun to flood markets with inadequate imitations of U.S made products.”

Dallin Brooks, executive director of the National Hardwood Lumber Association, stated, “Without active management, responsible harvesting, and robust markets, the health of our hardwood forests — and the industries and communities that depend on them — are at serious risk. Providing consumers with a tax credit to purchase real, American grown, American manufactured solid hardwood products over cheap, imported substitutes will save thousands of American jobs and small businesses in rural America.”