Politics
Congressional Amendments To Delay Or Speed Up Federal Hemp THC Product Ban Won’t Get Votes
Congressional amendments to either delay the scheduled federal recriminalization of hemp THC products for another year or to speed up its implementation will not be considered on the House floor this week.
Rep. James Comer (R-KY) filed the delay proposal as an amendment to the Farm Bill, while Rep. Mary Miller (R-IL) introduced the accelerated approach. Neither will advance, however, after Comer withdrew his measure and the House Rules Committee did not make Miller’s in order for a floor vote.
Hemp derivatives with less than 0.3 percent delta-9 THC on a dry-weight basis were federally legalized under the 2018 Farm Bill that President Donald Trump signed during his first term in office. But late last year, Trump signed new legislation containing provisions that will redefine hemp to make it so only products with 0.4 milligrams of total THC per container will remain legal after November 12.
Comer’s amendment, which is cosponsored by Reps. Kelly Morrison (D-MN), Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Morgan Griffith (R-VA), sought to delay the ban until November 2027.
Under Miller’s proposal, in contrast, the ban would kick in on the date the new Farm Bill is enacted. It’s not clear based on current progress in Congress when the large-scale agriculture legislation will actually become law, however, and the legislation could potentially not end up passing until after the current recriminalization date.
Comer told the panel during a meeting on Monday that his amendment would “protect American farmers” and “support the thousands of jobs in the hemp industry and people who use and rely on these products.”
“It is clear Congress needs more time to pass legislation that protects jobs, eliminates bad actors, standardizes labeling and requires third-party testing,” he said. “My amendment would provide Congress another year, until November 2027, to develop this solution.”
It’s not clear why he decided to withdraw the proposal from consideration for attachment to the Farm Bill, formally known as the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026, or H.R. 7567.
Griffith, a member of the Rules Committee who cosponsored Comer’s amendment, noted that there are a lot of hemp products “from overseas that has no third-party testing” on the market, saying that “there’s all kinds of, frankly, garbage.”
He said that the real solution is to have the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulate the products, citing a standalone bill he has introduced on the issue, but argued that “we’ve got to we have to have time to adjust,” which he said the delay amendment would provide.
Meanwhile, Rep. Andy Barr (R-KY) also filed an amendment to the bill that, according to the sponsor’s summary, “amends the definition of ‘Hemp’ to preserve the lawful hemp market while creating a regulatory framework that protects children, bans synthetics, and ensures that any products on the market place are of American origin.”
The congressman later withdrew the proposal from consideration for reasons that he did not announce.
He did, however, recently receive a letter from White House officials who provided feedback on pending legislation to create a regulatory framework for hemp.
Last week, Vince Haley, director of the White House Domestic Policy Council and James Braid, assistant to the president for legislative affairs, sent hemp policy suggestions to Barr, who has been helping to lead efforts to enact regulations for the plant as an alternative to prohibition.
“We appreciate your work to advance the policy of” an executive order Trump signed in December that included provisions seeking to protect Americans’ access to CBD products, the staffers wrote in a letter to the congressman.
“We are transmitting for your consideration draft legislative text and comments to address the statutory definition of final hemp-derived cannabinoid products in order to allow Americans to benefit from access to appropriate full-spectrum CBD products while preserving the Congress’s intent to restrict the sale of products that pose serious health risks,” the White House officials said, according to a social media post containing a screenshot of the letter. “We are available for discussion and further technical assistance.”
The attachment with the administration’s proposed legislative text has not been publicly released, and the White House and Barr’s office did not immediately respond to Marijuana Moment’s request for further details.
It’s not clear from the letter’s text whether the White House was proactively sending legislative proposals to the lawmaker or if they were replying to something his office submitted—though two cannabis industry sources suggested to Marijuana Moment that Barr first sent language to the administration, which then provided technical feedback.
Trump this week pushed congressional lawmakers to take action to amend the currently scheduled hemp ban, which he suggested threatens to federally recriminalize full-spectrum CBD products.
“I am calling on Congress to update the Law to ensure that Americans can continue to access the full-spectrum CBD products they have come to rely on, and that help them, while preserving Congress’s intent to restrict the sale of products that pose Health risks,” the president said in a Truth Social post on Thursday, the same day his administration announced it is moving forward to reschedule marijuana.
“We must get this done RIGHT and FAST, especially for those who saw that CBD helps them,” he said. “Plus, I am told it will also help our GREAT FARMERS, who we love, and will always be there for.”
Rep. Jim Baird (R-IN) had filed a hemp ban delay amendment before the House Agriculture Committee when it took up the Farm Bill last month, but that panel’s chairman determined that the proposal was not germane to the legislation.
The Farm Bill as approved by the prior committee does contain some provisions aimed at aiding the hemp industry and farmers who grow cannabis for industrial purposes such as fiber and grain. For example, the legislation would amend existing statute related to the development of industrial hemp production regulatory plans by states and tribes—including surrounding polices for testing, sampling, background checks and record-keeping.
A number of other bipartisan hemp reform bills are pending in Congress.
This month, for example, Sens. Rand Paul (R-KY), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Joni Ernst (R-IA) filed the Hemp Safety Enforcement Act, which would effectively let states opt out of the federal recriminalization of hemp THC products that is set to be enacted later this year.
Ernst later withdrew her name as a cosponsor of the legislation, however. Her office did not reply to Marijuana Moment’s request for clarification on the move.
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A U.S. Department of Agriculture report published this month shows that farmers in the U.S. grew three-quarters of a billion dollars worth of hemp crops in 2025—a 64 percent increase from the prior year.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration this month launched a new initiative to cover up to $500 worth of hemp-derived products each year for eligible Medicare patients. The program being implemented by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) focuses largely on CBD but also allows a certain amount of THC in products.
Anti-marijuana organizations filed a lawsuit suit against the Medicare hemp coverage policy, and lawyers for Health and Human Services Sec. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and CMS Director Mehmet Oz recently filed a brief asking that the case be dismissed.
Meanwhile, the White House Office of Management and Budget has been holding a series of meetings about a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) CBD products enforcement policy.
FDA also issued guidance making clear that it does not intend to interfere with implementation of the Medicare hemp-derived products coverage plan.
CMS separately finalized a rule that will allow coverage of some hemp products as specialized, non-primarily health-related benefits through Medicare Advantage plans.
As hemp products have become more popular with consumers, some large brands are attempting to get in on action.
Major retailer Target, for example, is expanding its participation in the hemp-derived THC beverage market. Last year, the company began a pilot program involving sales of cannabis drinks at 10 select stores in Minnesota. That apparently went well, and now the company has obtained licenses from Minnesota regulators to sell lower-potency hemp edible products—including THC drinks—at all 72 of its stores in the state.
