The U.S. Senate passed a continuing resolution Monday evening to end the federal government shutdown, but not before a clash of Kentucky’s two Republican senators over a provision that critics say will “eradicate” the hemp industry.
The continuing resolution included a late provision from Sen. Mitch McConnell that drew the ire of Sen. Rand Paul, his Kentucky GOP colleague, as well as hemp farmers and businesses back home.
Paul and the Kentucky Hemp Association say McConnell’s language banning the sale of hemp-derived products that include more than .4 milligrams of THC per container will destroy the entire hemp and CBD industry — in a blow to farmers, businesses and consumers.
As he had attempted to do with another spending bill earlier this year, McConnell added the language to the continuing resolution that sprung into motion this weekend to end the government shutdown, which has lasted for more than a month.
McConnell says his provision targets “intoxicating THC products” that were made legal in the 2018 Farm Bill that launched the hemp industry, closing what’s often been referred to as its “loophole.” He says that would crack down on synthetic products with intoxicating amounts of THC — the psychoactive component in cannabis plants — while preserving non-intoxicating CBD and industrial hemp products.
Paul and many in the hemp industry have sounded the alarm about McConnell’s efforts since this summer and warned that it would actually devastate the entire hemp industry, as CBD products contain small amounts of THC and would be swept up in a national ban.
As the continuing resolution advanced Monday, Paul filed an amendment that would have stripped McConnell’s hemp language from the bill. On the Senate floor that evening, he said the milligram limit in the bill would “eradicate” the entire industry.
“The numbers put forward in this bill will eliminate 100% of the hemp products in our country,” Paul said. “That amounts to an effective ban, because the limit is so low that the products intended to manage pain or anxiety will lose their effect.”
Paul added the provision would “effectively preempt and nullify” hemp regulations passed in nearly half of states. That includes Kentucky, where the legislature passed a bill this year to limit hemp-derived THC beverages to 5 milligrams or less — 12 times higher than the new federal limit.
“This is the most thoughtless, ignorant proposal to an industry that I've seen in a long, long time,” Paul said.
After Paul’s floor speech, McConnell rose to defend his hemp language and made a motion to table Paul’s amendment. He said his provision “will keep these dangerous products out of the hands of children,” while preserving the hemp industry for farmers by allowing its use for industrial applications like seed stock, fiber, grain, oil or use in drug trials.
“While some may masquerade as advocates for hemp farmers, even sometimes threatening to hold up government funding over this issue, I'll continue to work on behalf of Kentucky's farmers while protecting our children — not only in my state, but in yours as well,” McConnell said.
The Senate voted 76-24 to block Paul’s amendment, with 22 Democrats joining Paul and one other Republican voting to keep it alive.
Prior to the vote, the Kentucky Hemp Association issued a press release condemning McConnell’s “latest effort to dismantle” the hemp market, which it said was “driven by political vanity.”
“Sen. McConnell’s actions are an insult to farmers and entrepreneurs like me who rebuilt this industry from the ground up,” stated Merion Haskins, a hemp and tobacco farmer. “Instead of working with us, he’s pushing big government overreach that would destroy what our state has worked so hard to build.”
The Kentucky Hemp Association release said McConnell has "refused to meet with Kentucky farmers to discuss his vanity project,” instead pushing a bill that would “criminalize Kentucky farmers, small businesses and millions of responsible consumers.”
“While he claims his intent is to ‘protect the kids,’ Kentucky has already taken decisive, bipartisan action to address legitimate market concerns through common-sense policies like uniform age restrictions, product testing, labeling standards and manufacturing safeguards,” the KHA release stated.
The continuing resolution passed the full Senate by a 60-40 vote Monday night, and could be passed into law by the House before the end of the week, which would end the federal government shutdown.
‘McConnell moved to put us out of business by government’
Jim Higdon, an owner of Cornbread Hemp, a fast-growing Kentucky-based CBD business, said if the continuing resolution passes into law and goes into effect, it will be the end of his and every other hemp business.
In an interview Tuesday, he called what happened the previous night a “travesty.”
“Businesses face a lot of pressures in the marketplace, but we should never be put out of business by government,” Higdon said. “But last night, Mitch McConnell moved to put us out of business by government.”
Higdon said a prohibition of any product container with more than .4 milligrams of THC “will eliminate every product made by Cornbread Hemp.”
“Make no mistake, if this bill takes effect, it will eliminate the entire CBD products industry, no matter what McConnell or anyone else says otherwise,” Higdon said. “It will eliminate the CBD products industry and all the hemp farming that's grown in Kentucky over the last eight years that have come to support that industry.”
Higdon does not hold out much hope that the hemp provision will be stripped out of the bill in the House, but noted that there is a one-year implementation timeline for it to go into effect. According to him, the best chance at blocking the language and saving the industry will be the passage of a bill in 2026 that blocks its implementation.
“The only thing that's going to save it is moving a bill next year to the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which, very luckily for us, is chaired by Kentucky Rep. Brett Guthrie,” Higdon said. “And so Brett Guthrie is now the most important person to save hemp in America, and we have to run a bill through his committee to prevent Mitch McConnell's plan to eradicate the CBD industry through government.”
Guthrie and Rogers were the only two House members from the Kentucky congressional delegation to not sign a letter in September urging House leadership to block budget language to redefine hemp that has been pushed by McConnell and others.
Republican Reps. James Comer, Andy Barr and Thomas Massie signed the letter, alongside their only Democratic colleague, Rep. Morgan McGarvey. Their letter came days after another letter from 58 Kentucky hemp farmers asked McConnell for a meeting and to not insert language banning hemp-derived products into an appropriations bill.
Asked about the hemp provision passed in the Senate spending bill, Massie said in a statement that he fully supported Paul’s efforts to remove it.
“I detest the tactics that are being used to try to get this ban enacted into law,” Massie said.
