Senate Kills Ted Budd's Push to Fast-Track Hemp THC Ban, Passes 90-6 Funding Bill With One-Month Delay

The Senate voted Friday, August 7, to reject an amendment from Sen. Ted Budd (R-NC) that would have stripped a hemp ban delay out of a government funding bill, clearing the way for the industry to get roughly one more month before federal restrictions hit.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) moved to table Budd's amendment, and the motion passed 61-32, according to Marijuana Moment. The Senate then passed the underlying continuing resolution, H.R. 6500, by a lopsided 90-6 vote, funding the government through December 11.

Buried in that bill is language delaying the scheduled hemp THC crackdown from November 12 to December 11, per both Marijuana Moment and Cannabis Now.

What's Actually Changing

Under legislation President Trump signed last year, the federal definition of hemp shifts from a delta-9 THC-only standard to a total THC standard, effectively capping legal hemp products at 0.4 milligrams of total THC per container, according to Cannabis Now. That threshold would wipe out most of the gummies, beverages and edibles that built a hemp-derived THC market Forbes reports was worth more than $28 billion last year, supporting 300,000 jobs and generating $1.5 billion in state tax revenue.

The delay does carve out an exception: synthetic cannabinoids "that are not capable of being naturally produced by a Cannabis sativa L. plant" still get banned on the original November 12 date, per Marijuana Moment. Lawmakers aren't giving synthetic THC products a pass. They're giving the broader hemp-derived market more runway.

The Case For Killing the Delay

Budd's argument deserves a fair hearing. He called the spread of intoxicating hemp products a "public health crisis" on the Senate floor, arguing it threatens children, harms the workforce and undermines military readiness, according to Marijuana Moment. He accused the hemp industry of running a "well-oiled, slick lobbying machine" to block enforcement.

Budd wasn't alone. His amendment drew a long list of cosponsors spanning both parties, including Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Tom Cotton (R-AR), Joni Ernst (R-IA) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY). Forbes reported that a bipartisan coalition of 35 state and territory attorneys general also called on Congress to stick to the original November 12 deadline, arguing further delay just extends the window for unregulated, intoxicating products to stay on shelves near kids.

Hemp-derived THC products have been sold in gas stations and convenience stores with none of the age verification, dosage limits or testing requirements that regulated marijuana markets impose. Critics on both sides of the aisle have raised concerns that a market this size operating with almost no federal guardrails represents a genuine gap.

The Case For the Delay

Hemp industry advocates argue the alternative to delay isn't safety, it's chaos. Jonathan Miller, general counsel for the U.S. Hemp Roundtable, said the delay was "welcome news," quoting Mark Twain to argue reports of the industry's death have been exaggerated, according to Forbes.

Morgan Tweet, CEO of IND Hemp, told Cannabis Now the industry isn't declaring victory. "Unless Congress immediately returns to the harder work of creating a permanent solution, this extension is barely a consolation prize," Tweet said. Tweet also conceded ground to critics like Budd, saying the senators who opposed the delay "are not fundamentally wrong about the need to protect children, remove noncompliant sellers and bring accountability to this marketplace."

The debate isn't really regulation versus no regulation anymore. It's an outright ban versus a regulatory framework that industry groups say they'd accept, including age limits, testing and potency caps, if Congress would actually write the rules instead of just banning the market outright.

What Happens Next

The bill still needs House approval and President Trump's signature before the delay is locked in. Trump's administration reportedly supports the delay provision, per Marijuana Moment, which matters given Trump signed both the original 2018 Farm Bill that legalized hemp and the 2025 law that set up the current recriminalization deadline.

Congress now has roughly four weeks beyond the original deadline to do something it has failed to do for years: write actual federal rules for hemp-derived THC products instead of just letting a loophole run wild or slamming the door shut entirely. Cannabis Now's reporting notes the "Goodness of Hemp" campaign is pushing for exactly that framework. Whether lawmakers use the extra month to legislate or just kick the can again to December 11 is the open question nobody in this fight can answer yet.