Sen. Mitch McConnell's push to take intoxicating hemp products off store shelves has been put on hold, but he doesn't plan to stop working to close the loophole that legalized them — and in a speech on the Senate floor, he had strong words for Sen. Rand Paul, a vocal opponent.
In July, the seven-term senator from Kentucky who's retiring next year added language to an agriculture appropriations bill advancing through a Senate committee that would have federally banned all hemp products with "quantifiable amounts" of THC, the intoxicating chemical in marijuana. It sparked concern among industry advocates in Kentucky, where hemp has become a bustling business for farmers and other business owners.
But the bill that has reached the full Senate floor no longer includes the provision. Paul, McConnell's Kentucky colleague, was outspoken in his opposition, telling Politico the "horrendous" language would "destroy" the hemp industry and threatening to block the bill in its entirety if it were included.
In his Aug. 1 remarks, McConnell noted he's served on the Senate's Agriculture Committee throughout his time in office "because of its importance to my home state" and has always supported constituents in the industry.
"I’ve made sure our farmers have the tools they need to be successful in volatile markets. My language would not have changed that," he said. "This language would have remained in the appropriations package had one senator not derailed the process."
“You know, it’s one thing to call yourself an advocate for hemp farmers," McConnell added. "But if you didn’t support the 2014 pilot program, and you didn’t support the 2018 farm bill that legalized hemp production, and you would have blocked a major step forward on this appropriations package if it had included my language to close the bad-actor loophole, then what does being an advocate even mean?"
Paul has spoken in support of hemp before — he vocally backed removing hemp from the federal list of controlled substances in 2015 and called its legalization in 2018 "good news (that) has truly been years in the making."
But he voted against a wide-ranging 2014 bill that included a provision allowing states to cultivate industrial hemp under certain circumstances and voted against a lengthy 2018 bill that included language effectively legalizing the plant.
Paul's representatives did provide a comment for this story. The senator previously said he voted against the 2014 bill because it was too expensive, though he supported the hemp provision and has noted the 2018 bill used language he'd previously cosponsored that was aimed at decriminalizing industrial hemp.
McConnell spoke to his colleagues in front of a placard with images of hemp product packaging that mimics products such as Doritos and Oreos. The senator argued those "appealing snack and candy-like products ... in familiar packaging" put children in danger and are produced by "some companies looking to make a quick buck."
The 2018 farm bill legalized hemp, a plant similar to marijuana that contains small amounts of THC, but also inadvertently legalized substances containing delta-8, which the FDA says "has psychoactive and intoxicating effects," and other cannabidiol products.
Hemp has become a major Bluegrass State industry in succeeding years, both on farms where the plant is grown and in connected businesses. Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner Jonathan Shell has said he opposed the 2025 bill's "overbroad proposed language," and the state's Department of Agriculture noted 87% of hemp grown on 2,560 harvested acres around the commonwealth was used in CBD products in a 2024 report.
A number of Kentucky industry players and advocates spoke up against the language McConnell had proposed, as well.
Jim Higdon, cofounder of Louisville-based Cornbread Hemp, previously said banning all intoxicating hemp products "would destroy the American hemp industry and devastate Kentucky farmers." The company opened its doors in 2019 and has grown significantly, with expectations to make $50 million in sales in 2025 alone.
On Aug. 1, he said "despite some rough waters," he and others with the company are "very grateful for the leadership shown by Sen. Rand Paul on this issue, especially his willingness to hold up the appropriations process to ensure this issue was dealt with in a way that protects American consumer access and the future of Kentucky farmers."
Katie Moyer, founder of Kentucky Hemp Works, told The Courier Journal in an Aug. 1 interview she expects to see Paul at a ribbon-cutting ceremony next week for a hemp company in Murray and plans to thank him at that time for "coming in clutch in a way that an average person can’t do."
In his Senate speech, McConnell said under the language he included, "industrial hemp and CBD would have remained legal. Period."
Still, the senator was clear he isn't finished pursuing his goal, and a separate bill with similar language is still pending in the U.S. House.
"In order to move this package forward, I allowed for my language to be stripped from the bill. But my effort to root out bad actors, protect our children, support farmers and reaffirm our original legislative intent will continue," he said.
McConnell and Paul have sparred before, though they also share similar stances on issues such as opposition to tariffs proposed by President Donald Trump.
In April, a McConnell spokesperson said the pair "don't see eye-to-eye on everything" but have "a good personal and working relationship," while Paul's team said they "have had our difference" but were aligned against Trump's proposed tariffs.
Both have clashed with the president as well. McConnell and Trump did not speak for several years after his first term in office, though the senator was recently invited to a celebration at the White House with other colleagues after the passage of the massive GOP-backed policy bill signed last month.
Paul, meanwhile, has continued to speak out against Trump's tariffs and has repeatedly argued they amount to a tax increase, which should be approved by Congress. He also voted against the Trump-backed "One Big Beautiful Bill" over its potential impact on the national debt, with his opposition drawing sharp criticism from the president — in June, Trump said Paul "votes NO on everything" and his "ideas are actually crazy" in a social media post.
This story may be updated.
Reach Lucas Aulbach at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky Sens. McConnell, Paul face off over federal hemp ban
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