Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Sen. Jeff Merkley do not usually agree on much—the GOP leader has even taken to endorsing the Oregon Democrat’s Republican opponent. But there is one area where their interests curiously, at least on the surface, intersect.

Hemp—pot’s industrial, THC-sapped cousin, often used to make rope—has bound McConnell and Merkley together over policy.

Merkley and McConnell found themselves backing an amendment to the Commerce, Justice, and Science appropriations bill on Thursday that would reinforce a provision of the farm bill. Since industrial hemp is a federally controlled substance but legal in some states, including Oregon and Kentucky, the amendment seeks to prevent federal funds from being used to undermine the language in the farm bill that allowed colleges and universities to study the substance. [Read More…]