A congressional spending bill containing a hotly contested ban on hemp products with THC has cleared a procedural Senate vote, teeing up consideration of final passage, expected within days. But one GOP senator has a plan to strike the provision, industry stakeholders tell Marijuana Moment.
The Senate agreed to advance the minibus appropriations package in a 60-40 vote on Sunday, with a handful of Democrats joining all but one Republican to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to the legislation amid the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.
Hemp advocates and stakeholders have strongly condemned the hemp language as currently included in the package, warning that its provisions would effectively eradicate the market that’s evolved since the crop was federally legalized under the 2018 Farm Bill.
One of the industry’s most active supporters, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), isn’t planning to cede the issue easily.
According to two hemp industry stakeholders, the senator is pressing for a vote on an amendment to strike the re-criminalization language—or else block leadership’s plans to advance the overall legislation on a rapid basis, which could delay the process of ending the ongoing federal shutdown for days.
“I’ll vote no, but it also it’ll take
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