The House Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture has passed a bill for the 2017 fiscal year appropriations bill. Included in it is language that exempts premium cigars from regulation by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA).
Wednesday afternoon, the bill passed via a voice vote meaning it now heads to the larger House Appropriations Committee where the finalized bill will be crafted.
When a vote on the larger bill will take place remains unknown as House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., has said that first the House must pass a budget, something that seems unlikely to happen by a self-imposed Friday deadline.
This is the second year in a row where language friendly towards cigars is included as part of the earlier parts of the Appropriations Bill, though things are a bit different this year.
Last year, language was included that would have changed the date in which all deemed tobacco products—cigars, pipe tobacco, electronic cigarettes and others—would be grandfathered. This time around, there’s no language that would change the predicate date, rather, only language that would exempt premium cigars from FDA regulation
