Surprise details in shutdown deal
Added provisions range from restrictions on hemp to jab at special counsel
By: Zachary Schermele
USA Today
WASHINGTON - Several eyebrow-raising proposals are tucked into the bills that weer on track to end the longest-ever federal government shutdown.
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While lawmakers' attention has centered mostly in recent days around measures to reverse thousands of federal employee layoffs, restart critical services and generally turn the government's lights back on, a few smaller provisions in the giant funding package stand out.
..... The most controversial of the measures in the funding package allows a group of Republican senators to sue the government for up to $500,000.
..... At issue is former special counsel jack Smith's investigation into allegations of election interference after the 2020 presidential race.
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As part of the probe into the actions of President Donald Trump, Smith subpoenaed the phone records of more than half a dozen GOP lawmakers.
..... Although none of those lawmakers were charged, they were enraged to discover recently that their communicants were part of the evidence-gathering process.
New cannabis regulations
..... Another component of the deal closes a loophole that for years has allowed the unregulated sale of certain hemp products nationwide.
..... Hemp and marijuana are derived from the same plant, cannabis, but hemp contains lower amounts of THC, the compound that makes people high. The 2018 farm bill included a workaround that allowed THC products derived from hemp to be sold nationwide. Since then sales have boomed.
..... Senator Rand Paul, r-Kentucky, said November 10 [2025] that the new regulations included in the shutdown-ending funding package would be akin to "prohibition."
..... The regulations would take effect in 2026.
Bolstered security for lawmakers
..... In the wake of conservative activist Charlie Kirk's assassination, lawmakers have been increasingly worried about their own safety and that of their families and staff. In the first week of November, [2025] a mean who had threatened to kill a member of Congress was arrested before entering a Senate building.
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The funding package includes $20.5 million to boost security for lawmakers "in response to the evolving threat environment."
..... To protect lawmakers in their home districts $30 million will go toward reimbursing state and local agencies for their assistance.
Protections for watchdog
..... The shutdown deal also retains full funding for the Government Countability Office, a federal watchdog that has played a key oversight role of both Republican and Democrats in Washington for decades.
..... Contributing: Bart Jansen, USA Today