# 119-s-2221: SAWMILL Act

119-s-2221, SAWMILL Act, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Sen. Merkley, Jeff [D-OR] (D-OR); status introduced; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-07-25).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-2221
- As of: 2026-07-25
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-s-2221
- Congress: 119
- Title: SAWMILL Act
- Status: introduced
- Introduced: 2025-07-09
- Sponsor: Sen. Merkley, Jeff [D-OR] (D-OR)
- Cosponsors: 4
- Policy area: Public Lands and Natural Resources
- Touches household money: yes
- Last recorded action: 2026-07-25

## Summary

**Expand rural wood-processing capacity to support ecological restoration on high-priority federal lands.** This bill would create a USDA Timber Production Expansion Guaranteed Loan Program to back loans for sawmills and wood-processing facilities located near eligible Federal land. - Rural sawmill owners and operators would be eligible for loan guarantees to establish, reopen, retrofit, expand, or improve facilities located within 250 miles of identified federal lands. These entities must own or operate a sawmill or wood-processing facility in a rural area. - Federal land managers would get coordinated support because the Secretary of Agriculture, working with the Secretary of the Interior, must identify units that are high or very high priority for ecological restoration within 1 year and at least every 5 years. Nearby processing capacity must be shown to substantially decrease restoration costs as determined by the Secretaries. - Rural communities could see more local wood-processing capacity that is strategically linked to federal vegetation-removal projects, potentially making restoration projects cheaper and more regionally focused. *Limits total loan guarantees under the program to $220.0 million.*

## Cosponsors (4)

- Sen. Sheehy, Tim [R-MT] (R-MT), 2025-07-09T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. King, Angus S., Jr. [I-ME] (I-ME), 2026-04-29T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Wicker, Roger F. [R-MS] (R-MS), 2026-04-29T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Hyde-Smith, Cindy [R-MS] (R-MS), 2026-06-03T00:00:00.000Z

## Provisions PRIA read

- Loan guarantees for rural sawmills: benefit, high. If enacted, eligible rural sawmill owners and operators would be able to get USDA loan guarantees to build, reopen, retrofit, expand, or improve mills and wood-processing facilities. The facility must be in a rural area and within 250 miles of Federal land the Secretaries identify as high or very h…

## Related bills

- 119-s-2296: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026
- 119-s-4784: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2027
- 119-s-4744: Take Care of America’s Veterans Act
- 119-s-3940: Access to Fair Financing for Opportunity and Resilient Development Act
- 119-s-1552: Living Donor Protection Act of 2025
- 119-s-1241: Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025

## Sources
- [119-s-2221 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/2221)

## Related
- [119-s-2296: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-2296)
- [119-s-4784: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2027](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-4784)
- [119-s-4744: Take Care of America’s Veterans Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-4744)
- [119-s-3940: Access to Fair Financing for Opportunity and Resilient Development Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-3940)
- [119-s-1552: Living Donor Protection Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1552)
- [119-s-1241: Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1241)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-2221 (as of 2026-07-25).