Military aircraft surplus program for wildfire suppression extended through 2035
H.R. 956 — Aerial Firefighting Enhancement Act of 2025 · Filed by Dan Newhouse (R-WA) · 17 cosponsors · Introduced Feb 4, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill extends the Department of Defense's authority to sell surplus military aircraft and parts to wildfire-suppression agencies through 2035 (currently set to expire). It also expands the program to cover water-dropping operations alongside fire-retardant drops, and clarifies that transferred aircraft may only be used for wildfire suppression, not other purposes.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole function is to extend and modestly expand an existing DoD aircraft-transfer program for wildfire suppression. It is a straightforward reauthorization with minor operational clarifications.
What the text implies
- Restricting transferred aircraft to wildfire suppression only (subsection b) prevents state/local agencies from repurposing military equipment for other emergency operations (e.g., disaster relief, search-and-rescue), which may limit operational flexibility in multi-hazard scenarios.
- The 10-year reauthorization window (2025–2035) creates a predictable funding/planning horizon for state wildfire agencies but may require another legislative renewal in 2035, introducing potential service gaps if Congress does not act.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Ordinary citizens benefit from continued access to military surplus aircraft for wildfire suppression at no direct cost, and the restriction to wildfire-suppression-only use prevents mission creep. The expansion to water-dropping increases operational flexibility for firefighting agencies.
Who stands to gain
- State and local wildfire-suppression agencies
- Wildfire-suppression contractors operating transferred aircraft
Named in the bill
Department of Defense, Wildfire-suppression agencies, Public Law 104–307, 10 U.S.C. 2576 note
Where it stands
17 cosponsors: 9 Republicans, 8 Democrats.
- Feb 4, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Feb 4, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Agriculture and House Committee on Armed Services · Congress.gov: “Referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and in addition to the Committees on Armed…”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
4 lobbying clients named this bill on 8 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $570,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 6 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 72% of bills with at least one filing.
Dan Newhouse, the sponsor, reported $357,704 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Capitol Counsel, LLC on Behalf of Perimeter Solutions — $180,000 on 2 filings
- Perimeter Solutions — $180,000 on 2 filings
- Prime Minute, Inc. — $120,000 on 2 filings
- Capitol Counsel, LLC on Behalf of Prime Minute, Inc. — $90,000 on 2 filings
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 17, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (1,122 characters) on Aug 20, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 17, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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