Yesterday, a coalition of conservative groups, led by Americans for Tax Reform, sent a letter to Congressional leadership requesting that Congress make statutory changes to the current regulation of vaping industry manufacturers and retailers. Specifically, the letter requests that Congress approve an amendment to the upcoming Fiscal Year 2018 omnibus spending bill that would change the predicate date in the Deeming Rule from Feb.15, 2007 to Aug. 8, 2016. If passed, the amendment would allow vaping products that are already on the market to continue to be sold without having to go through the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) expensive premarket tobacco application (PMTA) process. Congress must pass legislation to fund the government by March 23 to avoid another shutdown. The passage of the massive, two-year budget agreement last month (with vast increases to both domestic and military spending) makes it very unlikely that Congress will deadlock again, and is incentivizing members to try and include policy amendments in the final package.

As you know, the Obama-era “Deeming Rule” allows the FDA to regulate vapor products and e-cigs as tobacco products and allows the FDA to regulate products that came to market after Feb. 15, 2007, the so-called “predicate date.” CDA has been advocating for this change for some time and will continue to lobby to change the predicate date for vaping products.