Weekly Briefing: FOFA officially passes Senate Agriculture Committee

October 22, 2025

The Fix Our Forests Act (FOFA) is making its way through the Senate! Yesterday, the Senate Agriculture Committee passed the bill with a strong bipartisan vote of 18-5. Remember, this bill helps America increase our resilience to catastrophic wildfires, restore forest health, and build fire-safety defenses for communities in high-risk areas. It’s a good, bipartisan start to protecting forests so trees can keep doing their important work pulling climate pollution out of the atmosphere.

All 12 Republican committee members plus six Democratic members voted in favor of the bill. You can read an analysis of the vote in Research Manager Dana Nuccitelli’s CCL Community post here.

We heard feedback from many of the Agriculture Committee members’ offices that CCL's actions made an impact — in particular our local op-eds and letters to the editor. Shout out to our volunteers in these key states for your meaningful efforts in moving FOFA forward!

Use our updated action tool to send a message to your senator today. Thank them for voting yes, or for other senators, share news of the bill’s progress and ask for their support when it comes before the full Senate.

We’ll continue to build momentum for this bill with our virtual lobby meetings coming up next month.

In other news this week:

• Trump administration opposes carbon price on global shipping: The International Maritime Organization has been exploring placing a carbon price on global shipping — but the Trump administration has taken a strong oppositional stance. Share our posts on Facebook, Bluesky and X to spread the word that we’re committed to building more support for carbon pricing in the U.S.
  
• Don’t forget to share your input: CCL’s staff has been hard at work on our strategic planning process in recent months. Your perspective as a CCL volunteer is a crucial part of bringing our strategy to life in 2026 and beyond. Thank you to the hundreds of you who have shared your input in this brief survey! If you haven’t yet, share your thoughts with us by Oct. 31.

Take action this week

If you have a little time: Register for Fall Conference and Lobby Week. CCL’s trademark persistence means we are moving ahead with our annual Fall Conference and Lobby Week, despite the current government shutdown. This is another great opportunity to further advance the Fix Our Forests Act and other climate policy priorities by speaking directly with congressional offices. Register now, and we’ll see you online Nov. 14-15.

If you have more time: Invite a trusted messenger to your lobby meeting. A trusted messenger is a community leader from the Member of Congressʼs district or state whose opinion your representative values and believes. Next month, we'll be including them in our lobby meetings to help our asks really hit home! Your chapter should be in the process of organizing an invitation to a local trusted messenger. Check in with your local chapter to see how you can support this process. Learn more and find tips for working with trusted messengers in our October Action Sheet.

Featured chapter: CCL Western North Carolina

CCL chapters around the country have been busy with outreach this fall. Lots of this outreach rode the wave of public enthusiasm for “Sun Day” last month — a nationwide day of action celebrating and educating people about the power of clean energy. Our volunteers’ creativity and enthusiasm shined as brightly as ever at these local events.

Twelve CCL volunteers from CCL’s Western North Carolina chapter tabled and clipboarded at the Asheville Rally for Clean Energy at the local Pack Square Pavilion during last month's Sun Day day of action. “We had a great day!” says Don Kraus, WNC chapter leader and CCL State Coordinator for North Carolina. “We collected 84 constituent comment forms with 19 new members joining.”

Don gave a 7-minute speech at the event and even had the opportunity to give a short TV interview to Asheville’s WLOS. “This was a case of ‘right place, right time’ — and being willing to say hello to the camera man!” Don jokes. “Since I had just done my speech, I had my talking points down.”

Watch the full segment on WLOS Asheville.

Upcoming trainings

10/23: Powering Up Statewide Media - This training is open to everyone who wants to help use the media for climate advocacy. It will help you understand how CCL's Communications staff supports local media work through a new Statewide Media Manager volunteer role. During this one-hour training, you’ll learn how to strengthen media work across entire states, not just individual chapters. Join us!

10/30: Fall 2025 Lobby Training #1: Primary & Secondary Asks - Join CCL's Vice President for Government Affairs Jennifer Tyler and Congressional Liaison Program Manager Mindy Ahler to participate in strategizing for the upcoming fall lobby meetings, get more information on the meeting asks, and have time to get your questions answered by CCL's Government Affairs team. This is the first of two recommended trainings for any CCL volunteer planning on being a part of their group's Fall 2025 Lobby Planning. Join us!

To see other events and CCL trainings, visit the Training Topics page of CCL Community.