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A GOP senator says he\u2019s willing to hold up spending legislation to end the ongoing government shutdown if Congress attempts to move forward with a controversial plan to ban hemp products containing THC\u2014though he\u2019s warning there\u2019s a \u201creal danger\u201d he won\u2019t prevail. As such, he argues that it\u2019s imperative for the industry make its voice heard on Capitol Hill over the coming days.<\/p>\n
At a virtual event hosted by Hemp Industry & Farmers of America (HIFA) on Tuesday, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) gave a status update on efforts to keep the proposed hemp ban out of appropriations legislation that\u2019s being negotiated by House and Senate lawmakers. He stressed that \u201cwe\u2019re at crunch time\u201d to prevent the prohibition from being enacted.<\/p>\n
With much of the executive branch still shut down after weeks of contention on Capitol Hill over unrelated issues, Paul said he remains \u201camenable\u201d to blocking any measure to end the stalemate without assurances that the hemp market won\u2019t be recriminalized under plans championed by Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD).<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve also told them\u2014and I think they believe me\u2014that we can do this the easy way or the hard way. The easy way is I give my consent, and the hard way is I don\u2019t,\u201d the senator said, adding that he\u2019s put forward alternative language to require a study and report on state regulatory models for hemp that<\/a> could inform future revisions to the federal law.<\/p>\n \u201cWe think they should study what\u2019s going on in the states,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n However, it remains uncertain whether leadership or other lawmakers negotiating the appropriations legislation will go along with that plan instead of the ban.<\/p>\n \u201cIf they are pressed for time and they want to speed up time, they might give me what I want, which is a report, non-binding, and we read, we discuss the issue over the next several years to find out what\u2019s acceptable,\u201d Paul said. \u201cIf they don\u2019t care and they just roll over me, which is a possibility, they\u2019re essentially going to ban hemp.\u201d<\/p>\n 🌾 Join Senator @RandPaul<\/a> to defend American hemp farmers!<\/p>\n 📅 Tuesday, October 28th ⏰<\/p>\n Nationwide efforts to roll back the 2018 Farm Bill are threatening American livelihoods. It’s time to stand together and GET INVOLVED.<\/p>\n Register: https:\/\/t.co\/5fTWz1RWUh<\/a>#SaveHemp<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/mZDktshML0<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Hemp Industry & Farmers of America (@hifa_health) October 24, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n Specifically, he said the opposition\u2019s proposal would set the THC limit for hemp \u201cso low that there won\u2019t be any hemp products probably left to be sold.\u201d He also made the case that, under the language he\u2019s reviewed from McConnell and Harris, it\u2019s possible that even hemp plants grown for industrial purposes could get caught up in the prohibition, forcing farmers to be \u201cre-hybridized to meet a new standard.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI think most of the hemp that is sold would not meet this standard. But, then again, is there going to be money around for people to redo the hemp plants? What\u2019s going to need to be done if the hemp products are illegal?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Paul also noted that, while the hemp ban language was removed on the Senate floor prior to passage of a combined package of three appropriations bills into a minibus that\u2019s now a focus of bicameral negotiations, the House version that still contains the hemp ban language has only advanced out of committee in the chamber.<\/p>\n \u201cTechnically, they shouldn\u2019t be allowed to put hemp language in at all,\u201d he said. \u201cBut if you know anything about Washington, breaking the rules or making up the rules as we go is what often happens. So even though these people have acknowledged to me they shouldn\u2019t do this\u2014that it\u2019s against the rules\u2014they\u2019re going to do it anyway. So this is what we\u2019ve been debating.\u201d<\/p>\n The senator repeatedly emphasized to stakeholders and supporters the importance of directly contacting committee leadership, their congressional representatives and particularly McConnell to drive home the point that the proposed ban would jeopardize their jobs and livelihoods,<\/p>\n \u201cSenator McConnell and Representative Harris are the two people that are driving this issue,\u201d he said. \u201cThey are driving the numbers, that will eliminate the industry. Most of the other people I\u2019ve talked to are you happy to take the report\u201d Paul proposed in his amendment.<\/p>\n \u201cEverybody else I\u2019ve talked to would say, \u2018Oh, we\u2019ll be fine with the study,’\u201d he said. \u201cYou know, let\u2019s study this and not ruin the whole industry. Some of them are saying they\u2019re pro-hemp\u2014they\u2019ve been publicly pro-hemp\u2014but they don\u2019t know what to do.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI think they\u2019re open-minded. I don\u2019t think they\u2019ve made a decision, but they\u2019re going to be influenced by McConnell and by longstanding relationships with him,\u201d the senator said, unless you have \u201cthousands of people to get them to reevaluate this issue.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMost of them have said they\u2019re open, but the default position is to let McConnell have what he wants to have, so that there\u2019s a real danger. That\u2019s what\u2019s going to happen here,\u201d Paul said. \u201cThere\u2019s been no thought into these numbers other than to kill the industry, and we have to do everything we can to try to delay this so we can have a real, thoughtful discussion of this over the next year or so. But there is a danger this goes south.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2014 The conversation comes days after a bipartisan coalition of 39 state and territory attorneys general called on Congress to clarify the federal definition of hemp<\/a> and impose regulations preventing the sale of intoxicating cannabinoid products.<\/p>\n In August, McConnell\u2013who ushered in the federal legalization of hemp under the 2018 Farm Bill\u2013took to the Senate floor to criticize those who opposed the ban, including Paul<\/a>.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Paul recently filed a standalone bill that would go in the opposite direction of the hemp ban,\u00a0proposing to triple the concentration of THC that the crop could legally contain<\/a>, while addressing multiple other concerns the industry has expressed about federal regulations.<\/p>\n The senator introduced the legislation, titled the Hemp Economic Mobilization Plan (HEMP) Act, in June. It\u00a0mirrors versions he\u2019s sponsored over the last several sessions<\/a>.<\/p>\n The post GOP Senator Threatens To Block Bills To Reopen Government If Hemp THC Ban Moves Forward<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
A GOP senator says he\u2019s willing to hold up spending legislation to end the ongoing government shutdown if Congress attempts to move forward with a controversial plan to ban hemp products containing THC\u2014though he\u2019s warning there\u2019s a \u201creal danger\u201d he won\u2019t prevail. As such, he argues that it\u2019s imperative forContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":84036,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84035"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84035"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84035\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84037,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84035\/revisions\/84037"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n\n
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\nRead More: GOP Senator Threatens To Block Bills To Reopen Government If Hemp THC Ban Moves Forward<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"