The government shutdown deal hits a snag over hemp
The deal to end the government shutdown ran into a last-minute problem Monday: hemp.
The Senate is renowned for being a consensus-driven institution, where unanimity among all senators speeds the legislative process from debate to final adoption. Now that a preliminary agreement has been reached, both parties aim to quickly pass legislation to reopen the government until January 31.
But those efforts were met with resistance from Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky. NBC News reported that the Kentucky Republican wants to preserve a so-called hemp loophole that allows the sale of synthetic THC products nationwide. Since a provision in the Senate bill puts an end to that move, he says the move is a major blow to the state’s hemp industry.
“Just to be clear: I am not delaying this bill,” Paul wrote on social media. “But there is extraneous language in this package that has nothing to do with government reopening and would hurt Kentucky hemp farmers and small businesses.”
A spokesperson for Paul did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Currently, it is legal to sell hemp-derived THC products at the federal level as long as they do not exceed 0.3% by dry weight, first implemented in 2018. The Senate bill would ban these products.
Despite the unexpected turbulence, the deal is widely expected to ultimately pass the Senate, House of Representatives and reach President Donald Trump for his signature later this week. “We have the support of enough Democrats and we are going to reopen our country,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office Monday afternoon.
