Hey, everybody. It's Tim Miller from the bulwark. I'm excited to talk a little bit about this hemp bill that's been going through Congress that I think it's pretty crazy, actually, that Trump is going to sign this and they might stick with this.

But before we get to an expert who actually knows something about this matter, I should say that we do have a couple of sponsors from the hemp industry that are obviously opposed to this bill

that's going to make their products illegal. I think that my record as a former Republican

pothead who enjoys weed beverages and who also doesn't like dumb regulations should be unimpeachable

here, but I did feel like I should at least give you that disclaimer at the beginning of the episode. Natalie Fertig is who's here. She's at Politico. She was the cannabis policy reporter for five years. Now she's the state's reporter. And she has been writing about this bill. How's it going, Natalie? Hey, it's good. Welcome. So anyway, I guess let's just start from the start.

Like, this guy, this bill. How's it going, Natalie? Hey, it's good. Welcome. So anyway, I guess let's just

start from the start. Like, this got in here because Mitch McConnell, like, had a hard on for

the industrial hemp industry. Like, why was this part of the shutdown debate at all?

Like, there were very few kind of things that were appended to this.

Why was, how did, how did this hemp bill end up getting in there?

Yeah, well, there's been a growing chorus within the cannabis space about

unregulated, at least federally unregulated.

Some states have regulated it, but the intoxicating hemp, like you mentioned, THC seltzers and beverages, they're really popular, especially in states that do not have

legal cannabis programs, which I think is actually a really important thing to remember.

But yeah, I mean, you put McConnell and Rand Paul, who are both from the same state, Kentucky,

which is one of the leading producers of hemp and intoxicating hemp beverages.

And they landed on separate sides of this issue. And that, I mean, that's really what we saw come to a head with Rand Paul saying, you know, I'm going to hold up this whole proceeding because he's trying to protect the hemp industry in his state, while McConnell,

who has never been a big fan of marijuana, cannabis, anything intoxicating, wanted to close

it because, you know, when he backed industrial hemp legalization back in 2014, this was not part of what he envisioned, was not

people being able to get high off of a can of seltzer that they bought at a gas station

or at a liquor store, depending on your state's regulations.

So basically politically, you kind of have this weird coalition between like teetoteling conservatives

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