Senate leaders released a stopgap that would push most of the federal hemp deadline to December 11. Cannabinoids the plant cannot make still die on schedule, both chambers have to agree and the states writing their own rules are not waiting.

The federal ban on hemp-derived THC products was supposed to arrive November 12. Most of the industry could now be one congressional agreement away from getting 29 more days.

Senate leaders released a stopgap funding bill on Sunday that would keep federal agencies running through December 11 and, tucked inside, delay the planned prohibition on most hemp products until that same date.

“Until December 11, 2026, the amendments made by section 781 of division B of Public Law 119–37 shall only apply with respect to products described in paragraphs (1)(C)(ii)(I) and (1)(C)(iv)(I) of section 297A of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946.”

Section 2019, Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2027

The hemp language appears in Section 2019 of the bill’s separate extensions division. Rather than repeating the definition, it cross-references two clauses in the hemp law Congress enacted last year. Those clauses cover intermediate and final products containing cannabinoids “that are not capable of being naturally produced by a Cannabis sativa L. plant.” Until December 11, those would be the only new exclusions taking effect. The restrictions on cannabinoids that occur naturally but are synthesized outside the plant, along with the 0.4-milligram cap, would be delayed for 29 days.

That’s the proposal. Four extra weeks, for most products, with one category left behind.

What Would Actually Move

The 0.4-milligram ceiling is low enough to push most hemp beverages, intoxicating edibles and full-spectrum tinctures currently sold in the United States outside the law. That cap, not the word “ban,” is the mechanism that kills the market.

Why December 11, of all dates? The extension was written to expire the same day as the funding bill that carries it, which hands Congress another decision point the next time government money runs out. Hemp’s legal status would be pegged to the same clock as federal government funding. Nobody who has watched Congress lately should find that comforting.

The House is not a formality. It passed a different funding bill last month, one that runs to December 4 and carries no hemp extension at all. The Senate still has to pass its own version, the two chambers would then need to approve identical language and only then does anything reach the president’s desk.

“As Mark Twain might have said, ‘The reports of hemp’s death have been greatly exaggerated.’”

Jonathan Miller, general counsel, US Hemp Roundtable

Four weeks is also not the unit of time this industry runs on. Co-packers book production lines out months. Distributors need to know what they can legally warehouse before they take delivery. A processor ordering inputs in August is ordering against a federal rule that may not exist by the time the pallets show up. An extension pegged to the next funding fight buys the lobbyists another round. It does not buy anyone a purchase order.

Washington Wants a Fix

Supporters say the delay is meant to buy time for an actual fix, and for once the pressure runs from the top down. President Donald Trump has publicly pushed Congress to redefine hemp and protect full-spectrum CBD products, writing on Truth Social: “We must get this done RIGHT and FAST, especially for those who saw that CBD helps them.” His budget office sent House Speaker Mike Johnson a letter asking lawmakers to “ensure the fair treatment of hemp products.”

The leading vehicle is the Lawful Hemp Protection Act, introduced in July by Reps. Andy Barr, R-Ky., and Angie Craig, D-Minn. It would repeal the ban language outright and replace it with a federal framework: it directs regulators to set potency limits, with fallback caps of 5 milligrams of THC per serving for ingestible products and 50 for inhalables if the agency fails to act within a year, plus a 21-and-over sales floor, testing and labeling rules, domestic sourcing requirements and restrictions on synthetic and artificially modified cannabinoids. Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., is circulating a competing delay-and-regulate bill, and a Senate companion to Barr-Craig is expected from Sens. Tim Sheehy, R-Mont., and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., as Marijuana Moment reported.

“While not a lot of time, this one-month extension gives lawmakers the opportunity to address this critical issue after Election Day,” said Jim Higdon, co-founder and chief communications officer of Kentucky’s Cornbread Hemp, in a statement. The Barr-Craig bill, he added, “sets a national potency standard and closes loopholes that allowed foreign-made synthetic THC to proliferate in an unregulated market.”

The States Aren’t Waiting

Here’s the part the celebration skips. Illinois enacted its own hemp restrictions effective November 12, limiting products sold outside the licensed cannabis system to less than 0.4 milligrams of total THC per container. Anything above that threshold gets treated as cannabis and can move only through licensed dispensaries. That date sits in state statute, and no federal stopgap moves it. North Carolina lawmakers are considering legislation that would write the incoming federal standard into state law. A company whose real exposure sits in Springfield or Raleigh gets little from four extra federal weeks.

The hemp industry spent the summer asking Congress for time. If Congress says yes, it gets a countdown stapled to another countdown.

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A coalition of alcohol retailers are cheering Senate leaders’ inclusion of provisions in a key funding bill to delay the planned federal recriminalization of hemp THC products—saying it provides industry supporters with more time to convince Congress to “establish a responsible federal framework for low-dose hemp-derived THC beverages.”

“We commend the Senate, the White House and congressional leadership for their commitment to finding a consumer-focused solution,” Jonathan Grella, a spokesperson for the Beverage Alcohol Merchants Coalition (BAMCO), said in a press relase. “The Senate continuing resolution creates an important opportunity to achieve meaningful hemp regulation.”

“While significant work remains, BAMCO is committed to working with policymakers to establish smart, safe regulation for low-dose hemp beverages that protects consumers and provides long-term regulatory certainty,” he said.

BAMCO’s members include Total Wine & More, BevMo! by Gopuff, ABC Fine Wine & Spirits, Spec’s Wine and Spirits & Finer Foods, as well as a group of hemp product wholesalers.

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, the president 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.

On Sunday, leaders of the Senate Appropriations Committee released the text of a continuing resolution to extend funding for federal agencies through December 11, past the end of the current fiscal year on September 30.

Included in the legislation are provisions that will also delay the planned prohibition on most hemp products until December 11—although there is a carve-out that will allow the immediately recriminalization on November 12 of synthetic cannabinoids “that are not capable of being naturally produced by a Cannabis sativa L. plant.”

BAMCO supports incorporating hemp THC drinks into the existing three-tier system for alcoholic beverages, along with new requirements for testing, labeling, marketing and taxation in tandem with flexibility for state regulations.

“For too long, policymakers have been faced with a false choice between an unregulated marketplace and prohibition,” the group said on Monday following the release of the Senate proposal. “BAMCO has consistently advocated for a smarter path—one that protects consumers, preserves adult access to compliant low-dose hemp beverages, and provides states and responsible businesses with a clear, durable regulatory framework.”

Grella, the group’s spokesperson, said that “responsible retailers have earned the public’s trust by safely selling age-restricted products for generations.”

“Low-dose hemp beverages belong in that proven system, where consumers can have confidence that products are sold responsibly under clear and enforceable rules.,” he said.

Other alcohol industry groups such as Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America have also backed regulating hemp products instead of prohibiting them.

Last month, the House of Representatives passed its own version of a continuing resolution to keep federal agencies funded into December, but it did not have any provisions to alter the planned hemp product ban. As such, if the Senate passes its new provision it would then still need approval by the other chamber before being sent to the president.

Meanwhile, a number of lawmakers from both chambers and both parties have filed or are circulating a growing number of bills to prevent the scheduled federal recriminalization of hemp THC drinks and other products later this year. Until now, none of those proposals have gained traction with congressional leaders.

For example, Rep. James Comer (R-KY), who chairs the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, is circulating legislation that would delay a planned federal ban on hemp THC products and institute some regulations—including packaging requirements, testing rules and age limits.

Separately, Rep. Andy Barr (R-KY), filed a lengthier proposal to prevent the federal recriminalization of hemp THC products and put in place a number of regulations for manufacturing, labeling, sales and taxation of hemp-derived products, including an age limit of 21.

A press release from the congressman’s office claimed that the White House supports the legislation, which is cosponsored by Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN), but the administration has not specifically endorsed it despite generally calling for hemp regulations and backing a prior similar amendment filed by Barr.

Trump and White House officials have in recent weeks repeatedly pressed Congress to delay, alter or reverse the ban.

In a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) last month, for example, White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russell Vought said the Trump administration wants lawmakers to “ensure the fair treatment of hemp products”—specifically citing Barr’s earlier amendment to keep many hemp products legal while adding regulations and taxes.

The administration “welcomes the opportunity to work with the Congress to, at a minimum, update the statutory definition of final hemp-derived cannabinoid products to allow Americans to benefit from access to appropriate full-spectrum CBD products,” OMB separately said last month, “while preserving the Congress’s intent to restrict the sale of products that pose serious health risks.”

Also in April, the president himself urged congressional lawmakers to again redefine hemp to avoid recriminalization of 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,” Trump said in a Truth Social post.

“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.”

Industry advocates say that the law as enacted last year not only threatens to prohibit intoxicating and synthetic cannabinoid products but also stands to remove popular full-spectrum CBD products that many Americans use therapeutically from the market.

“ONE in FIVE adults used it in the past year, and many say it improved their chronic pain enormously,” the president said in his social media post, adding that hemp-derived CBD “has made a HUGE difference for so many people.”

He also referenced a new initiative the administration launched in April 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 products to have up to 3 milligrams of total THC per serving. A federal judge granted the government’s motion to dismiss marijuana legalization opponents’ lawsuit challenging the initiative, but that is being appealed.

“In December, I signed a very important Executive Order calling for Research and Innovation for Hemp-derived CBD,” Trump said. “Our wonderful Dr. Mehmet Oz moved fast to follow the directive in the Executive Order, and launched a model for some Seniors earlier this month. But more must be done!”

“Please get it done, and SOON,” the president said in reference to a congressional fix for the broad recriminalization set to take effect in November. “Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

The Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America (WSWA), an alcohol industry trade association issued praise for Barr’s bipartisan hemp regulation bill, but said the measure’s tax provisions require “continued discussion.”

Hemp policy observers expect to see a Senate companion bill to Barr’s proposal filed soon, likely from Sens. Tim Sheehy (R-MT) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN).

Sheehy recently cited hemp legislation as an area where Republicans and Democrats can work together in an otherwise “hyperpartisan time.”

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Meanwhile, a new poll from NuggMD found that most cannabis consumers say that state-level hemp product bans that lawmakers are enacting in line with the planned federal recriminalization move are causing them to shift their purchases toward licensed marijuana businesses.

The National Restaurant Association recently sent a letter urging congressional leaders to delay the federal recriminalization of hemp THC beverages and replace it with a regulatory framework that “ensures consumer safety while meeting growing market demand” for the products as an alternative to alcohol.

Major retailer Target, meanwhile, recently moved to expand its sales of hemp THC drinks into more states.

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