Backer of hemp regulation looks to reconciliation process
Rep. Morgan Griffith said Monday that a GOP reconciliation package in the upcoming lame-duck session could become a possible vehicle for his legislation aimed at regulating hemp-derived products.
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The Virginia Republican said he was considering coupling his bill with tax legislation to meet the strict restrictions of the filibuster-proof reconciliation process, which can be used only for measures that have a significant budgetary impact to comply with Senate rules.
“I think we need to get my THC regulatory bill passed, and if we could get that into a reconciliation bill before the 11th of December, that’d be fabulous,” he told reporters after presiding over a pro forma House session. THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, is the main psychoactive ingredient in the cannabis plant.
Griffith said in a later statement that his bill could ride in a reconciliation package if “combined with a measure related to taxes on hemp-derived products, such as Rep. Van Duyne’s Beverage Regulatory Parity Act.”
The legislation offered by Rep. Beth Van Duyne, R-Texas, and Rep. Greg Landsman, D-Ohio, seeks to establish a regulatory system for hemp-derived beverages similar to how alcohol is treated, and would impose a federal excise tax based on the amount of intoxicating THC in those beverages.
Griffith’s bill would charge the Food and Drug Administration with developing regulations within three years to set limits on intoxicating substances in hemp-derived and CBD products. If the FDA can’t complete the process within that time, the bill would set default intoxication limits of 5 milligrams per serving and 30 milligrams per package.
As part of the short-term government funding patch passed in September, lawmakers agreed to temporarily delay a ban on sales of certain intoxicating hemp-derived products through Dec. 11.
The ban’s delay reignited GOP tensions over loosening cannabis regulations. Griffith, who has called for Congress to approve a regulatory framework for hemp-derived products, acknowledged internal rifts over the delay.
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“I get it. Andy Harris, Ted Budd, some of the others, they just want to stop it,” Griffith, a senior member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, said Monday, referring to the delay. But he also warned, “I truly believe if we don’t do something before that Dec.11th deadline, that it’s going to create all kinds of issues.”
“So, now the question becomes: Do you want to have good products that are third-party tested, that [have] a restriction on the age of purchase, that has all this other stuff? Some of the states are doing that,” he said. “But if you’re going to look at it from a federal level, I don’t think we can stop it.”
Long path ahead
Some Republicans in both chambers have expressed hopes for passing a third reconciliation bill before the new Congress convenes in January. But others remain doubtful, saying Republicans have yet to agree on what such a package should contain with little time to take up the measure before the end of the year.
The House adopted a budget resolution in July laying the framework for a reconciliation bill, but the Senate took no action on its own budget blueprint. Both measures would provide roughly $100 billion for Iran war and other military funding, agriculture aid and some voter ID measures.
Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., told reporters Monday that she would like to see a reconciliation bill passed after the elections. But she added, “It will be very challenging to sync up with the House and the Senate on what should be included.”
She also noted she would like to see parts of a key regulatory bill for digital assets included in the reconciliation bill, along with some tax provisions.
“But opening the tax code is challenging,” she said, while also pointing to the strict rules governing the reconciliation process in the Senate that require the bill to have some kind of budgetary impact.
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