After years of pressure from Kentucky's junior GOP Senator Rand Paul, Kentucky's senior senator, GOP Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, has finally given in on legalizing hemp across the US.
The US Congress on Wednesday approved the legalization of large-scale hemp cultivation and its removal from a list of controlled substances.
“This is the culmination of a lot of work by a number of us here in Washington but really the victory is for the growers, processors, manufacturers and consumers who stand to benefit from this growing market place,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said.
The measure was supported by both Republicans and Democrats who argued it was an opportunity for American farmers.
It appears in a major law on agriculture that was adopted by a clear majority in the House of Representatives (369-47) after comfortably passing the Senate (87-13) the day before.
The law has not yet been signed by President Donald Trump.
“I’ll be happy to loan him my hemp pen for the occasion,” joked McConnell, a conservative from the state of Kentucky who had vigorously defended the measure after already pushing for the authorization of pilot programs in 2014.
The real reason that it took so long is that McConnell didn't want President Obama getting credit for signing a bill into law that helped rural farmers in places like Kentucky. Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon has been pushing industrial hemp legalization legislation for even longer than Rand Paul, but the bill never got past the Senate Judiciary Committee while Obama was President.
Trump comes along though, and suddenly we have a smooth trip through in the lame duck session.
Anyway, it is what it is, and Kentucky farmers need a cash crop to replace tobacco. They could have had it four years ago, but the President was black or something.
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