Overview
- The Senate rejected Sen. Rand Paul’s amendment to strip the hemp language and then approved the shutdown-ending package with the restrictions intact.
- The agriculture title would block unregulated sales of intoxicating hemp-derived products such as delta-8 in gas stations, corner stores, and online, while preserving non‑intoxicating CBD and industrial hemp uses.
- Paul blamed Sen. Mitch McConnell for the provision, but McConnell defended it as a public‑safety fix to protect children; a White House official said President Trump supports the bill’s hemp language.
- Industry groups, including the Texas Hemp Business Council, warn the change could erase a roughly $25–$28 billion market and cost hundreds of thousands of jobs.
- The legislation now moves to the House, where opponents hope to remove or alter the hemp provision after prior House GOP resistance to similar language.