Tag: rand paul

Rand Paul Files Bill To Triple Federal THC Limit For Hemp As House Pursues Crackdown On Consumable Cannabinoids

As the hemp industry raises concerns about congressional attempts to ban most consumable cannabinoid products, a GOP senator has filed a bill that would triple the concentration of THC that the crop could legally contain, while addressing multiple other concerns the industry has expressed about federal regulations.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) introduced the legislation, titled the Hemp Economic Mobilization Plan (HEMP) Act, last week. It mirrors versions he’s sponsored over the last several sessions.

Hemp and its derivatives were legalized under the 2018 Farm Bill, but the industry has experienced multiple setbacks in the years since—and the proliferation of intoxicating cannabinoid products has led to pushes in Congress and state legislatures across the country to reign in the largely unregulated market.

To that point, a GOP-led House committee this week approved a spending bill containing provisions that hemp stakeholders say would devastate the industry, prohibiting most consumable cannabinoid products that were federally legalized during the first Trump administration.

The legislation would “effectively” criminalize hemp-derived cannabinoid products, including CBD, according to a Congressional Research Service (CRS) report.

In contrast, the newly reintroduced measure from Paul would address one of the most common complaints that lawmakers have heard from hemp businesses under the current law, which is that the crop is federally defined as containing no more than 0.3 percent THC by dry weight. They say that’s too low, and so the bill would increase that threshold to 1 percent.

It would also address potential problems with testing requirements under U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) regulations. Hemp processors currently get a 15-day window to test the crop’s flower to ensure that the THC concentration is within the allowed limits. But testing flower can be onerous and farmers have said it would stretch their resources thin, not to mention that the plant’s THC is significantly impacted by external factors.

To fix that issue, the bill calls for final hemp products themselves to be tested, rather than the initial flower from the plant.

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Musk Fired-Up About Paul’s Rescission Idea For Slashing Spending Up To $500 Billion

Seeking to codify spending cuts pursued by his Department of Government Efficiency, Elon Musk held a closed-door lunch with Republican senators on Wednesday. Musk was said to be “elated” with Sen. Rand Paul’s recommendation to make the cuts stick with a relatively expeditious budget-slashing technique called “rescission.” The approach could guide DOGE cuts around federal judges who consider executive-branch-initiated spending cuts as exceeding constitutional authority. 

Rescission offers a means by which presidents can collaborate with Congress to cancel previously-appropriated spending. Enabled by Title X of the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974, the rarely-used process starts with the president sending a special message to Congress, providing specific details about which budgetary authorities he wants to rescind. 

With Republicans holding a narrow 53-47 Senate majority, one of the most attractive aspects of rescission is that it doesn’t require 60 votes — a simple majority suffices to grant the president’s wish. Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley told reporters that Musk was “elated” with Paul’s proposal: “I think he didn’t realize it could be done at 51.” According to South Carolina Sen. Lindsay Graham, it was the first time Musk had heard of the rescission process. He said Musk reacted by triumphantly lifting his arms into the air.  

The approach promises to immunize DOGE spending cuts from federal judges who are skeptical about the executive branch’s power to cut spending that was duly authorized by Congress. This week has seen two major developments that demonstrate the strength of that judicial headwind:

Rescission is an alternative to “impoundment,” by which presidents unilaterally delay Congressionally-directed spending. First used by Thomas Jefferson, the method was restricted by the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (ICA) after Democrats felt President Nixon was abusing it. Trump has called ICA “a disaster of a law” and vowed to “do everything I can to challenge [it] in court, and if necessary, get Congress to overturn it.” However, as noted above, the same law provides the opportunity for rescission, which means Trump can use ICA to his advantage. 

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Senator Rand Paul Vows to Continue Investigation on Madman Tony Fauci

If there was ever any doubt as to who bears responsibility for the COVID pandemic, Biden’s pardon of Fauci forever seals the deal.

As Chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee I will not rest until the entire truth of the coverup is exposed.

Fauci’s pardon will only serve as an accelerant to pierce the veil of deception.

Ignominious! Anthony Fauci will go down in history as the first government scientist to be preemptively pardoned for a crime.

On Monday morning, Senator Rand Paul, the Chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee announced he will continue his probe into Fauci and his many lies and will not rest until the entire truth of the coverup is exposed.

Senator Rand Paul: If there was ever any doubt as to who bears responsibility for the COVID pandemic, Biden’s pardon of Fauci forever seals the deal.

As Chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee I will not rest until the entire truth of the coverup is exposed.

Fauci’s pardon will only serve as an accelerant to pierce the veil of deception.

Ignominious! Anthony Fauci will go down in history as the first government scientist to be preemptively pardoned for a crime.

Senator Paul posted this on X.

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Rand Paul Drops the Hammer: Denver Mayor May Be REMOVED FROM OFFICE Over Defiance of Trump’s Deportation — ‘It’s a Form of Insurrection’

In a fiery appearance on Face the Nation, Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) issued a stern warning to Denver Mayor Mike Johnston over his open defiance of federal immigration laws and President Trump’s promised deportation efforts.

“You know, I’m 100% supportive of going after the 15,000 murderers, the 13,000 sexual assault perpetrators, rapists—let’s send them on their way to prison or back home to another prison,” Paul asserted.

However, he made it clear that such efforts must not involve deploying the U.S. Army domestically, a move Paul deemed both unconstitutional and dangerous.

“We’ve had a long-standing distrust of putting the Army into our streets,” Paul explained. “The police understand the Fourth Amendment. They go to judges, get warrants, and ensure specificity. So, I’m for removing these people, but through the normal process of domestic policing.”

Calling the mayor’s actions a “form of insurrection,” Paul declared that Johnston could face removal from office and potential legal consequences if he continues down this path.

“The mayor of Denver, if he’s going to resist federal law, which is a long-standing history of the supremacy of federal law, if he’s going to resist that, it will go all the way to the Supreme Court,” said Paul.

“I would suspect that he would be removed from office. I don’t know whether or not there’d be a criminal prosecution for someone resisting federal law, but he will lose. People need to realize that what he is offering is a form of insurrection where the states resist the federal government.”

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Rand Paul’s Festivus Report Exposes Fauci’s NIH Wasting Taxpayer’s Money on Barbaric Cat Experiments with Electroshock and Brain Mutilation

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has unleashed another scathing edition of his annual Festivus Report, a tradition that lays bare the federal government’s misuse of taxpayer dollars.

This year, Paul’s report shines a glaring spotlight on a deeply unsettling aspect of government spending—barbaric experiments on cats, funded by none other than Anthony Fauci’s National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Department of Defense (DOD).

You can read the full list of projects here.

According to the report, $1.5 million of taxpayer money has been funneled into barbaric experiments at the University of Pittsburgh.

“If you learned that your money is being used to electro-shock young kittens, torturing them for hours on end, and to the point that they vomit, would you believe it?” according to the report.

It continued, “Since 2019, $1,513,299 worth of taxpayer money has been going to these medieval-type experiments. This is not some distant, dystopian future; it’s happening right now at the University of Pittsburgh, courtesy of a grant from the NIH.”

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Rand Paul ‘Festivus’ grievances: US millions for Ukraine TikTokers

Every December 23, Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) releases a “Festivus Report” based on the spoof holiday featured in the 1990s television show “Seinfeld.” On this made-up holiday, people would engage in an annual “airing of grievances,” and when it comes to wasteful government spending, each year Paul always has a very long list of beefs.

But this year, in finding over $1 trillion in wasteful, stupid spending, like $12 million for a pickleball complex, $15 million in new furniture for empty federal offices, $873,000 for film making in Jordan, and over $400,000 to study lonely rats, there appears to be some substantial spending related to Washington’s ongoing role in the Ukraine-Russia conflict.

Th 2024 ‘Festivus Report’ reveals that, “despite American taxpayers providing nearly $174 billion in aid and military assistance to Kyiv since the beginning of Russia’s war in Ukraine, someone over at State thought it was a brilliant idea to drop an additional $4.8 Million for ‘KYIV, Ukraine public affairs – Influencer Staff.’”

That’s right. Apparently the U.S. government was bankrolling Ukrainian TikTokers and Instagram personalities. To the tune of $4.8 million.

From Paul’s report:

“Apparently, what we really need in a war zone are more Instagram stories and TikTok dances. The dangers here are more than just cringeworthy content; this kind of spending opens the door to disinformation, propaganda, and international PR disasters. And don’t even get me started on the potential to escalate tensions with other nations.”

Sen. Paul proceeds to mock the funding’s aim: “after all, nothing says ‘peacekeeping’ like a viral video.”

More “Festivus” airing of the grievances: “But the absurdity doesn’t end there. The State Department also splurged $15,220 on an ‘influencers event’ and another $22,231 on a ‘USAID Social Media Influencers Campaign.”

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Cocaine quails, magic and ice skating drag queens: Sen. Paul uncovers bizarre gov’t spending

While the federal government wastes hundreds of billions in taxpayer dollars on unnoticed projects, Sen. Rand Paul’s Festivus report highlights some of the most shocking expenditures, from funding ice skating for drag queens to foreign nations’ borders. 

Sen. Rand Paul is preparing to release his annual Festivus Report next Monday, which will highlight wasteful government spending that has gone unnoticed. This year’s report promises to “air grievances” about both parties pet projects, with Sen. Paul calling out outrageous spending on both sides of the aisle.

“Government is incompetent and we should keep government out of everything they do unless nobody else will do it,” said Paul in a recent interview. “We’re going to be celebrating Festivus on December 23. It’s the day in which we air our grievances. I will air my grievances towards big spenders of both parties.”

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Rand Paul Accuses Leftist Denver Mayor Of INSURRECTION

GOP Senator Rand Paul has suggested that the leftist Mayor of Denver could be turfed out of office for vowing to defy president-elect Trump’s mass deportation plans.

Appearing on CBS News, Paul said Denver Mayor Mike Johnston’s open defiance of federal immigration laws would be “a form of insurrection” and would make it to the Supreme Court.

Johnston’s has stated that he will make Denver a “fortress of resistance” to protect illegal immigrants, promising to mobilise police officers and encourage residents to form human barricades to obstruct federal authorities.

“The mayor of Denver, if he’s going to resist federal law, which is a long-standing history of the supremacy of federal law, if he’s going to resist that, it will go all the way to the Supreme Court,” Senator Paul noted.

He continued, “I would suspect that he would be removed from office. I don’t know whether or not there’d be a criminal prosecution for someone resisting federal law, but he will lose.”

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“Shutting Down CISA” Senator Paul Rand’s Crusade Against Online Censorship

Senator Paul Rand, who is about to take over as chair of the US Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, has spoken in favor of shutting down the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).

CISA, a part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), was established in 2018 to do just what its name says – but has in the meanwhile become weaponized to suppress free speech, opponents believe, citing a number of programs where CISA was involved in monitoring and flagging online posts for removal.

Senator Paul refers to the agency’s behavior – which he says included the ability to censor content and thus influence what information is available to people – as “intrusions into the First Amendment.”

“The First Amendment is important, that’s why we listed it as the First Amendment. I’d like to, at the very least, eliminate their ability to censor content online,” Paul said in a post on X.

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Rand Paul Vows To Reinstate ‘Remain In Mexico’ Policy

Senator Rand Paul vowed this week that as the new leader of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee he will reinstate the ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy.

“I chose to chair this Committee over another because I believe that, for the health of our republic, Congress must stand up once again for its constitutional role,” Paul said in a prepared statement. 

He added, “This Committee’s mission of oversight and investigations is critical to Congress reasserting itself.”

“Our first hearing will examine reinstating the successful Remain in Mexico policy from the first Trump Administration,” the senator further urged.

The policy, officially known as Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), was introduced by the Trump administration in December 2018 and mandated that asylum seekers at the southern border wait in Mexico while their claims were processed.

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