Senate passes stopgap funding bill delaying hemp and grant rules

The Senate passed a stopgap funding bill that would fund federal agencies through Dec. 11 at current levels, with some exceptions, aiming to prevent a government shutdown on Oct. 1 and fund the government until after the midterm elections.

The details: The bill includes two provisions that would delay proposed and enacted policy changes.

• It would delay the implementation of last year’s law closing the hemp loophole by one month. A law passed at the end of last year would have banned intoxicating hemp-derived products that have become widely available without regulation following Congress’s legalization of hemp in 2018. The new restrictions were set to take effect on Nov. 12, but would now be pushed to Dec. 11 for most products, though a ban on fully synthetic products would go into effect as scheduled.
• It would also temporarily block the administration from implementing its plan to give political appointees more power over federal grants, a rule that was expected to be implemented on Oct. 1. While it would only do so until Dec. 11, it will be more difficult for Congress to allow the plan to take effect after agreeing to blocking it.
• Why it’s important: The law closing the hemp loophole would stop unregulated, psychoactive THC products from being widely available in accessible locations (e.g., gas stations, convenience stores) without age restrictions, product testing, or other restrictions and regulations, as they are now. The rule giving political appointees control over federal grant proposals would upend and politicize the grant process for scientific research, health programs, etc.

The context: The White House has been lobbying Congress for a reprieve from the ban it approved last year on intoxicating hemp products.

• The White House included the delay in spending requests it sent to Congress in June, calling it a way to “ensure the fair treatment of hemp products.”
• Its inclusion in the Senate bill reflects the success of the hemp industry influence campaign to avoid new regulations. That effort has been led in part by people with close ties to President Trump and the administration.

But: Senator Budd and around a dozen co-sponsors introduced an amendment to strip the hemp rule delay from the bill. They held up consideration of the funding bill until leadership allowed a vote on the amendment, but the amendment was rejected.

The response:

• Hemp industry groups touted the provision as a significant win that would give them more time to convince lawmakers to regulate the products, rather than ban them.
• A bipartisan coalition of state attorneys general urged Congress to reject efforts to delay or weaken the ban. It warned that a delay would give the industry another opportunity to reopen the loophole that was already voted closed and to continue profiting from unregulated products that mimic marijuana.
• Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Oz urged senators to not support the Budd amendment, which he said would “undo significant gains that have been made to make clinically-appropriate full-spectrum hemp-derived CBD accessible to” Medicare beneficiaries through a new pilot program.

What’s next: The House passed a different spending bill that does not include the provisions on hemp or the grant rule. The House would need to agree to the Senate version for it to become law.

• The fights over the implementation of both policies are likely to continue.

Read more: Senate finalizes funding patch that would block Trump’s grant overhaul; White House CR Wishlist; Trump urges GOP senators to back off hemp ban; Senate measure would block Trump plan to politicize federal grants, for now; Senate funding bill seeks delay of hemp THC ban; Senate tables hemp amendment at center of funding fight, allowing one-month delay of ban