WASHINGTON DC — 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.

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.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), isn’t planning to cede the issue easily.

“I’ll vote no, but it also it’ll take them five days to pass this,” Paul told Politico late last week ahead of the bill text’s release on Sunday. He said the legislation would “kill an entire industry.”

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul

One of the founders of the Industrial Hemp Association of Michigan said he strongly  supports a redefinition that clearly distinguishes synthetic or converted cannabinoids from true agricultural hemp.

“However, Section 781’s ‘total THC’ language goes too far. It would make safe, full-spectrum CBD products effectively illegal and harm the farmers and small businesses who built this industry,” said David Crabill, former iHemp President.

“Senator Rand Paul’s amendment to strike Section 781 is the right fix — it preserves consumer safety while keeping hemp an agricultural commodity, not a casualty of over-regulation,” Crabill added.

The U.S. Hemp Roundtable condemns the latest proposed Senate language to recriminalize hemp products, a harmful decision by Congress that threatens to eliminate America’s $28.4 billion hemp industry and jeopardizes more than 300,000 American jobs.

If passed, this legislation would wipe out 95% of the industry, shuttering small businesses and American farms while costing states $1.5 billion in lost tax revenue.

Despite misleading claims this language protects non-intoxicating CBD products, the reality is that more than 90% of non-intoxicating hemp-derived products contain levels of THC that are greater than the proposed cap of .4 mg per container.

As a result, seniors, veterans, and many other consumers who depend on hemp for their health and well-being would be violating federal law to purchase these products, disrupting their care and leaving them scrambling for potentially harmful alternatives.

If the language passes, as-is, the hemp industry is committed to continuing the fight. During the one-year proposed moratorium, U.S. Hemp Roundtable will work closely with lawmakers to reverse the ban and replace it with responsible, science-based regulations that crackdown on misleading and purely synthetic products, create restrictions that keep products out of the hands of children, and promote standard manufacturing practices.

Unlike these regulations, the current proposal fails to protect consumers and risks fueling a dangerous black market.

“Our industry is being used as a pawn as leaders work to reopen the government. Recriminalizing hemp will force American farms and businesses to close and disrupt the wellbeing of countless Americans who depend on hemp,” said Jonathan Miller, U.S. Hemp Roundtable General Counsel.

“We support Senator Rand Paul’s efforts to push back on this language and will continue to fight alongside him for a regulated, safe, and robust hemp industry.”

The U.S. Hemp Roundtable is a coalition of dozens of leading companies and organizations committed to safe hemp and CBD products.