Republican disquiet over hemp ban threatens passage of bill to end shutdown

Source: The Guardian

Wed 12 Nov 2025 08.00 EST
Last modified on Wed 12 Nov 2025 08.01 EST


A last-minute provision in the federal spending bill heavily restricting hemp-derived products such as CBD and THC drinks could lead some Republicans to vote against the spending bill which, if passed, could end the government shutdown as early as Wednesday. Kentucky is one of the largest producers of hemp in the country, and Republicans in the state have shown strong support for the hemp industry.

Jonathan Miller, an advocate for the hemp industry and former Kentucky state treasurer, said that “Kentucky is really ground zero for the rebirth of hemp” – a niche industry until the 2018 farm bill allowed a much wider variety of legal products. On Monday night, Kentucky senator Rand Paul broke with the Republican party and voted against the bill because of the hemp provision, which was revealed at the 11th hour and which Paul tried unsuccessfully to have removed. Miller said Congress has been batting around provisions to ban hemp for months.

“First it was as part of the farm bill, and later was part of last year’s spending bill,” Miller said. Paul successfully had the provision blocked before it found its way back into the bill. “Fast forward to November, and the deliberations behind the scenes of the appropriations bill [mean the hemp provision] has been added to the minibus” – the addition concerning spending over various sectors, including agriculture.

Senator Mitch McConnell and Congressman Andy Harris were instrumental in adding the provision, Miller said. The current version of the provision “criminalizes any product that has more than .4 milligrams of total THC per container. That’s basically zero. 95% of hemp products have more than .4 milligrams,” Miller said.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/nov/12/hemp-republican-spending-bill

---

This was the "unanimous consent" objection that Rand Paul had attempted (and his Amendment to strip this provision was eventually voted down) - https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143563059