House Farm Bill Conference Committee Named — and Comer’s On it!

Here We Come(r)!

This afternoon, Speaker Paul Ryan and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi named the Members of the U.S. House of Representatives who will participate in the 2018 Farm Bill Conference committee. The hemp industry has reason to celebrate — one of our most passionate advocates, Rep. James Comer (R-KY), was appointed — he will literally be “in the room where it happens.”

Comer, you may remember, was Kentucky’s Agriculture Commissioner who built the bi-partisan coalition that legalized hemp in Kentucky; worked with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to secure the key hemp pilot program language in the 2014 Farm Bill, and then sued and defeated the DEA three times in federal court when that agency tried to prevent the importation of hemp seeds.

More recently, after getting elected to the U.S. Congress, Comer served as the lead House sponsor of the Hemp Farming Act of 2018, which Leader McConnell attached to the Senate’s version of the Farm Bill.

As the final Farm Bill is reconciled, it is comforting to know that Rep. Comer will be on hand to support the Senate’s language which would permanently legalize hemp.House Republican conferees can be found at this link; Democratic House conferees can be found here. The Senate will name its conferees in the next few days.

Once all of the conferees are named, we will be enlisting you in the lobbying effort.

We ask you to hold your fire until then. However, if you have a strong personal or constituent relationship with any of the Members of Congress listed in the links as conferees, please let us know ASAP by emailing [email protected]. We will ensure that you are involved in the most productive way.