A pair of Republican senators are ignoring the White House’s wishes and instead doubling down on their amendment that aims to ensure the federal government’s ban on intoxicating hemp products goes into effect on schedule.
U.S. Sens. Ted Budd, R-N.C., and Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., took to the Senate floor on Aug. 5 to urge their colleagues not to go forward with a four-week reprieve that would allow hemp products with more than 0.3% total THC or more than 0.4 milligrams of total THC per container to remain on the marketplace until Dec. 11.
Under current law passed by Congress last November, these products, as well as those containing synthetic (delta-8 THC) or unnatural (HHC) cannabinoids, will be prohibited on Nov. 12.
However, the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee released a stopgap funding measure on Aug. 2 that included language to extend certain provisions of the hemp-derived product ban from Nov. 12 to Dec. 11. The funding measure, known as a continuing resolution, would continue current government funding levels until Dec. 11, providing lawmakers in Washington additional time to avert a potential shutdown at the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30.
But now Budd and Ricketts are asking for support for their amendment, filed on Aug. 4, to strip that extension language from the continuing resolution.
“This is a public health crisis that deserves this Senate’s immediate attention,” Budd said Wednesday on the chamber’s floor. “Our children should never be the testing ground for an industry willing to exploit a loophole in federal law for profit. We need to strip this [language] from the continuing resolution and regulate these harmful substances for exactly what they are, not what the industry wants to call them.
“So, if substances cause intoxication like marijuana, then it should be regulated as such, not given a free pass as hemp. There is no loophole worth putting a child’s wellbeing at risk”
The North Carolina senator was referring to the 2018 Farm Bill, which defined hemp as containing no more than 0.3% delta-9 THC on a dry-weight basis, as tested in plants in the field, not in finished products. The farm bill focused on defining hemp by a single isomer, delta-9 THC, rather than total THC.
This led to the unintended consequence of intoxicating hemp and hemp-derived products – from THCA flower to delta-8 THC gummies – landing on the shelves at gas stations, smoke shops and convenience stores.
During Budd’s floor remarks, he displayed images of intoxicating hemp products in packages that resembled popular children’s candy and snacks, such as Skittles, Oreos and Cheetos. He then displayed a graphic showing a 461% increase in pediatric cannabinoid-related emergency room visits in children 11 and younger from 2018 to 2023.
“These numbers, they’re not just statistics. They represent children ending up in emergency rooms,” Budd said. “And why? Because the intoxicating hemp industry wants to make a cheap dollar.”
The senator also said that he was “appalled at the well-oiled, slick lobbying machine” that’s very well connected in Washington and has “chosen to wage a surreptitious war” against his and Ricketts’ effort to “protect American children.”
Those remarks came after media reports that the hemp extension was included in the Senate’s proposed continuing resolution following pressure from President Donald Trump’s administration.
The White House and Trump have consistently called on Congress over the past eight months to update the law so that Americans “can continue to access the full-spectrum CBD products they have come to rely on” past the Nov. 12 implementation date.
More recently, some speculated that White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles was “pushing hard” to delay the intoxicating hemp product ban’s implementation. Wiles’ new son-in-law, Bret Worley, is the chief executive of MC Nutraceuticals, a hemp-derived cannabinoid company.
However, White House spokesman Kush Desai told MS NOW this week that Wiles hasn’t lobbied Congress in favor of the hemp extension or any other position.
Meanwhile, Trump called Budd on Aug. 4, after he filed his amendment, and talked about creating a federally regulated system for hemp-derived products but did not ask the senator to withdraw his amendment, Politico reported, attributing a Senate staffer whom the media outlet granted anonymity.
The next day, Budd told reporters, “I’ve been asked by lots of people to stand down on this amendment.”
Ricketts gave similar remarks on the amendment during the Aug. 5 floor session.
“We have a drug problem in this country today. And right now, there is an industry that is targeting our children with lookalike products with intoxicating levels of THC,” he said. “This is the psychoactive ingredient that you find in marijuana. How could we possibly let this happen?”
Ricketts also reminded his colleagues in the upper chamber that the current law that’s set to be implemented on Nov. 12 provided hemp industry stakeholders with a one-year off-ramp to plan for the new federal restrictions.
“We gave the industry till November 12th to adjust,” he said. “We said the loophole’s been out there. We’re going to give you a year to get your products in line with a new law. You’ve got to be below 0.3%. And you’ve got till November 12th. But in our current continuing resolution, somebody wants to keep that extended till December 11th.”
Budd and Ricketts’ amendment, as of Aug. 5, had gained the support of fellow GOP Sens. Bill Cassidy (Louisiana), John Cornyn (Texas), Chuck Grassley (Iowa), James Lankford (Oklahoma), Mitch McConnell (Kentucky) and Mike Rounds (South Dakota), according to Punchbowl News.
Their effort to preserve the Nov. 12 implementation date comes as 35 state and territorial attorneys general signed a letter to congressional leaders on Aug. 4 to oppose the extension, telling lawmakers in Washington not to “delay, repeal, suspend or weaken” the federal government’s forthcoming ban on intoxicating hemp products.
