Since becoming Chairman of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee this spring, Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) has sought to return the Appropriations process to regular order. Last Monday, the Senate passed an appropriations “minibus” bill, which merged three separate fiscal year (FY) 2019 funding bills together. The House passed a similar bill in early June, and the two chambers will need to negotiate a final agreement on the “minibus” package, which contains funding for Energy and Water, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and the Legislative Branch, before it can be sent to the President’s desk.

Congress still needs to approve nine other appropriations bills to fund the rest of the government before the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30. One of these bills is the Agriculture Appropriations bill. As we have previously reported, the House version contains a provision similar to the Cole-Bishop language, which would make changes to the predicate date in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Deeming Rule, which would allow certain vaping products to be sold without having to go through the FDA’s expensive premarket tobacco application. Currently, the companion Senate bill does not include this language, and both versions still need to be approved by their respective chambers. CDA will continue to advocate for inclusion of this language in the appropriations process.