The US Senate rejected an amendment to a critical spending bill that would have removed language to ban hemp products containing THC.
After the chamber cleared the appropriations minibus package for floor consideration on Sunday, senators on Monday took up the measure from Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) that he said would prevent the eradication of the hemp market that’s matured since the crop’s federal legalization under the 2018 Farm Bill.
The amendment was killed in a 76-24 vote on a motion to table.
“My amendment would strip the provision designed to regulate the hemp industry to death. The bill, as it now stands, overrides the regulatory frameworks of several states, cancels the collective decisions of hemp consumers and destroys the livelihoods of hemp farmers,” Paul said on the floor ahead of the vote. “And it couldn’t come at a worse time for America’s farmers. Times are tough for our farmers.”
Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) spoke in support of the amendment, saying the ban “would wipe out an industry that we have spent more than a decade creating.”
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who has championed the prohibition, said “companies have exploited a loophole” in previous legislation he sponsored to legalize industrial hemp. The revision to the law, he argued before making the motion to table Paul’s amendment, will “keep the dangerous products out of the hands of children while preserving the hemp industry for farmers.”
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