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Law Pete Sessions

Baron23

Well-Known Member
This guy has set himself up above democracy and shown that many times in the last couple of years by taking unilateral action to block initiatives from committee or floor debate. He deserves the *-hole moniker and his own thread.


House GOP Blocks Marijuana Research Amendment For Veterans

Once again, the U.S. House Rules Committee has blocked a vote on a cannabis amendment. This time, the proposed measure would have encouraged the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to study the medical benefits of marijuana for military veterans.

The proposal, which Congressman Jared Polis (D-CO) was seeking to attach to the Stop the Importation and Trafficking of Synthetic Analogues Act, a bill dealing with synthetic drugs, would have required the VA to regularly report to Congress about the status of its cannabis research efforts.

Polis also unsuccessfully tried to move an amendment to prevent federal authorities from restricting the use of kratom, a plant that some people use for pain relief.

“The opioid epidemic has affected so many in the U.S., if not directly, indirectly through friends and family. Along with improving access to mental health services, drug abuse treatment, and prevention programs, we need to improve access to alternative pain relief options that work,” Polis said in a press release. “For some, kratom, a cousin of the coffee plant, can be such an alternative. For others, including many veterans, medical marijuana can help manage pain without resorting to more dangerous and addictive prescription opioids. Kratom and medical marijuana should be legal and available to our veterans.”

Under Chairman Pete Sessions (R-TX), the Rules Committee has made a practice over the past several years of blocking marijuana amendments from reaching the House floor.

This time was no different. On a party-line vote of 7 to 4 on Tuesday, the panel blocked the marijuana research amendment from having a chance to be considered on the House floor.

On Wednesday morning, Polis took to the floor to voice his disappointment about his amendments being blocked.

“Many states have medical marijuana available to patients with a variety of health issues, including chronic pain. Doctors across the country have prescribed medical marijuana as a legitimate treatment option for pain management,” he said. “In cases where it works, it provides a less harmful alternative, a less harmful and less addictive alternative to opioids.”

“I’ve heard from so many Coloradans for whom medical marijuana works instead of having to resort to opioids.”

“Unfortunately, medical marijuana is still illegal at the federal level,” Polis said. “There’s limited research opportunities about the safety and efficacy of marijuana, and that’s holding us back from really understanding how medical marijuana can be used for pain management. I offered a very simple and commonsense amendment at the Rules Committee last night that authorized the secretary of Veterans Affairs to study medical marijuana as an alternative treatment option to prescription opioids.”

Polis, who is a member of the Rules Committee, had some choice words for his Republican colleagues who control the panel:

“This bill is being considered under a closed rule. This is the 86th closed rule of this Congress. What that means, Mr. Chairman, not a single member, Democrat or Republican was able to offer an amendment to this bill… And there were good ideas on both sides that weren’t allowed to be advanced. The Republicans continue to bring bills to the floor this way to limit the opportunity for Republicans and Democrats to do something to stop opioid abuse. As a legislator who has a lot of ideas to save lives, increase freedom and decrease opioid abuse that would pass, I think a lot of my ideas would get 350 votes here in the House. We are not allowed to bring them forward. It is just so frustrating when we all know the human face of people that are suffering from being caught in a vicious cycle of opioid addiction and we have seen in our friends and family.”

The overall synthetic drugs bill is expected to receive a House floor vote on Friday.

Read the full text of the rejected marijuana research amendment below:
AMENDMENT TO RULES COMMITTEE PRINT 115–74
OFFERED BY MR. POLIS OF COLORADO

At the end of the bill, insert the following:

SEC. 12. CONDUCT OF RESEARCH INTO EFFECTS OF CANNABIS ON HEALTH OUTCOMES OF CERTAIN VETERANS.

(a) RESEARCH.—In carrying out the responsibilities of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs under section 7303 of title 38, United States Code, the Secretary may conduct and support research relating to the efficacy and safety of medical cannabis on the health outcomes of covered veterans diagnosed with chronic pain, post-traumatic stress disorder, and other conditions the Secretary determines appropriate. The Secretary shall ensure that such research is conducted in accordance with applicable regulations relating to the oversight of research, including such regulations prescribed by the Office of Research and Development of the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Health and Human Services (including through the National Institute on Drug Abuse), the Food and Drug Administration, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the National Institutes of Health.

(b) DATA PRESERVATION.—Research conducted pursuant to subsection (a) shall include a mechanism to en3 sure the preservation of all data, including all data sets, collected or used for purposes of the research required by subsection (a) in a manner that will facilitate further research.

(c) REPORTS.—During the five-year period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit periodically, but not less frequently than annually, to the Committees on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Representatives and the Senate reports on—

(1) the implementation of this section; or

(2) the rationale of the Secretary with respect to determining not to implement this section.

(d) COVERED VETERAN DEFINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘covered veteran’’ means a veteran who is enrolled in the patient enrollment system of the Department of Veterans Affairs under section 1705 of title 38, United States Code.
 
"“More often than not, elected officials respond to carrots and sticks. So if making Pete Sessions an electoral casualty is what it takes to advance drug policy reform, so be it,” Don Murphy, a Republican former Maryland state lawmaker who now serves as federal policies director for the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), told Marijuana Moment. “If the GOP loses control of the House by one vote, it won’t be my fault. I tried to warn them.”

I couldn't agree more with the underlined portion of this ^^.



Analysis: GOP Congress Has Blocked Dozens Of Marijuana Amendments

Increase military veterans’ access to access medical cannabis. Shield state marijuana laws from federal interference. Protect industrial hemp growers’ water rights. Allow marijuana businesses to be taxed fairly and to access banking services.

That describes just some of the nearly three dozen cannabis-related amendments that Republican leadership in the U.S. House of Representatives has blocked from even being voted on during the current Congress, a new analysis by Marijuana Moment finds.

On at least 34 occasions, lawmakers—Democrats and Republicans alike—filed marijuana and drug policy reform proposals only to be stymied by the powerful Rules Committee, which decides which measures can advance to the House floor.

One Man Is The Biggest Obstacle To Congressional Marijuana Reform.
That panel, led by Congressman Pete Sessions (R-TX), has for the past several years instituted an effective roadblock to cannabis law reform by refusing to make any amendments dealing with the plant “in order.” That means the full 435-member roster of House never even gets an opportunity to vote on the measures.

This analysis only covers the current 115th Congress, which began in January 2017. Republican leaders have made a practice of blocking cannabis amendments since the previous summer.

The last time the House was allowed to vote on marijuana, in May 2016, a measure to allow military veterans to get medical cannabis recommendations from Department of Veterans Affairs doctors was approved by a overwhelming vote of 233 to 189. Several other marijuana measures were approved on the House floor in the two years preceding that, including proposals to let marijuana businesses store their profits in banks and to protect state medical cannabis laws from Justice Department interference, the latter of which made it into federal law and is still on the books.

In June 2015, an amendment to expand that protection to prevent the Department of Justice from interfering with all state marijuana laws—including those allowing recreational marijuana use and sales—came just nine flipped votes short of passage.

Since that time, the number of states with legal marijuana has more than doubled, meaning that far more legislators now represent constituents who would stand to be protected. Advocates are confident they could get the measure approved if given another opportunity, but the cannabis blockade by Sessions’s Rules Committee has meant that no more votes on it have been allowed.

While House Republicans have instituted a broader policy of blocking amendments deemed to be “controversial” after floor disputes on gay rights and gun policy measures threatened the passage of several spending bills in 2015, Sessions, who is not related to U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, seems to have a particular problem with marijuana.

“I, as probably everybody in this rooms knows, have a strong opinion on drugs, illegal drugs, alcohol,” he said just before stymying a measure to prevent federal intervention in state cannabis laws earlier this year. “Marijuana is an addictive product, and the merchants of addiction make it that way. They make it for addiction. They make it to where our people, our young people, become addicted to marijuana and keep going.”

On another occasion, Sessions claimed that cannabis is now more potent than it was when he was a young man—by a mathematically impossible factor.

“When I went to high school…in 1973, I graduated, marijuana, on average, is 300 times more powerful,” he said. “That becomes an addictive element for a child to then go to the next thing.”

Legalization Supporters Target Sessions For Defeat.
Sessions, like all members of the House, is up for reelection this year. The Cook Political Report, which tracks congressional races, moved his seat—Texas’s 32nd congressional district—from being rated “Lean Republican” to the closer “Toss Up” status last month. In 2016, Hillary Clinton won the district.

Sensing an opportunity, marijuana reform advocates are targeting Sessions for defeat in 2018.

Pro-legalization Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), who has authored several of the blocked amendments, started a PAC and pledged to fund in-district billboards spotlighting Sessions’s anti-cannabis tactics.

Screen-Shot-2018-07-09-at-8.02.17-PM-1024x494.png


Six of the amendments blocked by Sessions and his committee concerned military veterans’ access to medical cannabis. Five had to do with marijuana businesses’ ability to use banking services. Seven would have allowed states and Washington, D.C. to implement their own marijuana laws without federal interference.

“These are not controversial measures. They have bipartisan support,” Blumenauer told Marijuana Moment in an emailed statement. “By blocking our amendments, Sessions is standing in the way of progress, commonsense, and the will of the American people—and that includes Republican voters.”

Sessions faces Democrat Colin Allred, a former NFL player, in November.

“I support the use of medical marijuana as an alternative to the habit-forming opioids that have become a national crisis,” the challenger told Politico. “This common-sense approach to alternative treatments has been opposed by Pete Sessions, and is something I will fight to expand.”

upload_2018-7-11_14-16-52.png


The willingness to see Sessions go extends even to dedicated Republicans who could risk seeing control of the House tipped to Democrats in what is expected to be a very close midterm election overall.

“More often than not, elected officials respond to carrots and sticks. So if making Pete Sessions an electoral casualty is what it takes to advance drug policy reform, so be it,” Don Murphy, a Republican former Maryland state lawmaker who now serves as federal policies director for the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), told Marijuana Moment. “If the GOP loses control of the House by one vote, it won’t be my fault. I tried to warn them.”

Former MPP executive director Rob Kampia says he’s aiming to raise half a million dollars to pour into the effort to defeat Sessions with his new outfit, the Marijuana Leadership Campaign, and a related political action committee.

More Cannabis Amendments Are Likely To Be Blocked Soon.
In the meantime, it seems likely that even more cannabis proposals will be added to the blocked tally when the Rules Committee considers a broad funding package this week which includes the Financial Services and General Government bill. Earlier versions of that annual appropriations legislation have been used as vehicles for measures concerning Washington, D.C.’s ability to spend its own money regulating marijuana and to allow cannabis growers, processors and retailers to access financial services.

Marijuana Moment’s analysis of blocked marijuana amendments relies heavily on a report issued in late May by Rules Committee Democrats, which tallied all blocked amendments across issues up to that point. (Marijuana Moment identified several subsequent cannabis measures that were prevented from reaching the floor following the Democratic report’s release.)

“Shutting down amendments and preventing debate is bad for the Congress as an institution, but is even worse for the country,” the Rules Committee minority, led by Congressman James McGovern of Massachusetts, wrote. “The inevitable result is partisan legislation written by a small number of Members, staff and lobbyists, with many bipartisan priorities left out in the cold.”

“Blocking amendments shuts out members of Congress from offering their ideas to improve legislation, and in doing so silences the voices of the millions of Americans they are elected to represent. So far during this record-breaking closed 115th Congress, 380 Members have had at least one amendment blocked from consideration by the Republican-controlled Rules Committee and Republican Leadership.

“These districts account for 270 million Americans. In other words, Representatives from roughly 80 percent of the county have been blocked from offering an idea for debate on the House Floor – the ideas their constituents sent them to Congress to advocate for on their behalf.”

In the report, which dubs the 115th Congress “the most closed Congress in history,” Democrats call out Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI), who pledged to “uphold the rights of the minority” and “have a process that is more open, more inclusive, more deliberative, more participatory.”

“You are the first Speaker in history to have never allowed a truly open rule, which would permit all Members to offer their ideas on the floor of the House,” McGovern and Democratic colleagues wrote.

“The People’s House is meant to operate as a deliberative body. Shutting out the voices of the representatives of hundreds of millions of Americans erodes the foundation of our democracy, and makes the job of governing increasingly more difficult.”

While the Democrats highlight several issue areas such as guns, immigration, the environment, veterans affairs and criminal justice reform in their report narrative, they do not specially discuss the blocked marijuana amendments, which are included in an appendix that lists every submitted measure not “made in order” by the Rules Committee.

Among the cannabis-related amendments impeded during this Congress were measures to reduce funding for the Drug Enforcement Administration’s marijuana eradication efforts, shield military veterans from losing their benefits due to cannabis use, expand research on marijuana’s medical benefits, allow Indian tribes to enter the cannabis industry and create a federal excise tax on marijuana sales.

There were also measures that would have granted an official congressional apology for the damage done by the war on drugs and ceased the practice of punishing states that don’t automatically revoke drivers licenses from people convicted of drug offenses.

At a time when marijuana law reform enjoys overwhelming support from voters, and more states are modernizing their cannabis laws, lawmakers in the so-called “People’s House” are not even allowed to vote on the issue.

The Senate Saves The Day. Maybe.
For the past several years, cannabis reform advocates have been largely relying on the Senate to advance their proposals. Last month, for example, that chamber’s Appropriations Committee approved measures on veterans’ medical cannabis access and preventing Justice Department intervention in state medical marijuana laws. (The panel, however, blocked an amendment on banking for marijuana businesses.)

Meanwhile, advocates this year for the first time advanced a marijuana amendment out the House Appropriations Committee, circumventing the Pete Sessions floor blockade. That measure, to shield state medical cannabis laws from federal interference, has historically required House floor votes—now impossible, thanks to Sessions—or Senate action to advance.

The ultimate fate of the various Senate-approved marijuana measures now rests with bicameral conference committees that will merge the two chambers’ bills into single proposals to be sent to President Trump’s desk.

For example, both the Senate and the House approved separate versions of large-scale food and agriculture legislation known as the Farm Bill this year, but only the Senate version has hemp legalization language in it. Sessions’s Rules Committee blocked a House vote. It will be up to the conference committee to decide which version prevails.

Regardless of which party controls the chamber when the 116th Congress is seated in January, Ryan, who is retiring, will be gone. And if legalization supporters have their way, so will Sessions.

See below for the full list of cannabis amendment blocked by Pete Sessions and the Rules Committee during the 115th Congress: (follow link in Title to see the original article including this chart which I could not copy over)
 
This is the result of "regular order" that many in DC are bleating about. It puts inordinate power in the hands of a few partisan stalwarts. This Sessions' contempt for the fundemental concepts of democracy are a travesty and I can only hope he loses his seat in the mid-term elections when he has to run again.

The other anti-cannabis Sessions just blocked several cannabis bills in congress


Texas Representative Pete Sessions (R) - the fervent prohibitionist - has struck again. Two cannabis reform bills were brought to the House this week, and both were tabled by the Sessions, writes Calvin Hughes.

The first bill was intended to be an addition to the Fiscal Year 2019 budget bill and would have created protections for banks who choose to work with the cannabis industry in states where it has been legalized.

The cannabis industry's inability to use banking services in America has forced many business have to operate on a cash-only basis, and they are also unable to get loans and other financial services like most industries.

The second bill blocked by Rep. Sessions was one that would have allowed the legal sale of recreational cannabis in Washington, DC. Voters in the nation's capital legalized cannabis back in 2014, but Congress stepped in to prevent the district from opening marijuana retailers. So locals must either grow their own supply, find someone willing to give them free weed or buy through the black market.

Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) - who introduced the measure to reverse the rider blocking DC from funding the cannabis industry - blasted Sessions' decision to block the bill.

"This rider has unintentionally benefited violent drug gangs," Norton told the House Rules Committee. "For that reason, some refer to it as the 'Drug Dealer Protection Act.' As one marijuana dealer told the Washington Post, the rider is 'a license for me to print money.' Regulating marijuana like alcohol would allow DC, instead of drug dealers, to control production, distribution, sales, and revenues [of cannabis]."

But that pleas was moot because Rep. Sessions chairs the House Rules Committee, meaning he has wide-reaching powers to dismiss bills. However, Sessions could lose his job if he gets beaten in the midterm elections. So hopefully we'll see someone a little more cannabis friendly in his seat soon.
 
"Sessions is up for re-election in November, and he’s facing an increasingly tight race against civil rights attorney and former NFL player Colin Allred that’s been graded as a “toss-up” by political watchers"
This is all of the explanation you need about Pete Sessions apparent new open mindedness. I'm not a fan of this man at all.

Anti-Legalization Rep. Pete Sessions ‘Very Receptive’ To Medical Cannabis Group

Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX), who has blocked roughly three dozen marijuana amendments from being considered on the House floor over the past several years, is now in ongoing talks with a group advocating for legal access to medical cannabis, his office announced.

The news has taken some legalization advocates by surprise given the congressman’s ardent opposition to marijuana legislation and habit of impeding reform measures from advancing as chairman of the House Rules Committee.

Sessions, whose son has Down syndrome, said in a newsletter that he shares a common interest with the group Mothers Advocating Medical Marijuana for Autism (MAMMA): namely, finding “solutions for our children to help improve their quality of life when nothing seems to help.”

40472345_1940930895961404_4835873372724264960_n.jpg

Via Facebook, MAMMA

“I was pleased to get to continue our conversations together in my Dallas office on Monday because I believe that by working together, real progress can be made,” he said. “I look forward to continuing my journey with parents like Amy, Thalia and Mayra as we look to find the best solutions for our children.”

Sessions is up for re-election in November, and he’s facing an increasingly tight race against civil rights attorney and former NFL player Colin Allred that’s been graded as a “toss-up” by political watchers. Allred, who supports medical marijuana legalization, has seized on Sessions’s opposition to cannabis reform, calling his resistance “unfortunate.”

Sessions, meanwhile, has made a series of questionable statements about cannabis. In January, for example, he said “marijuana is an addictive product, and the merchants of addiction make it that way.”

But members of MAMMA say their conversations with Sessions mark a unique opportunity to push the ball forward on cannabis reform in Congress. After one member approached the congressman at the Texas Republican Party convention in June—where the state party formally endorsed marijuana decriminalization and medical cannabis expansion—he apparently took a special interest in the group’s cause.

“I was very encouraged,” Thalia Michelle, co-founder and vice president of MAMMA, told Marijuana Moment in a phone interview. “I found him very gracious, very receptive.”

Sessions told the group that it’s not simply his personal view on marijuana legalization that’s led him to block votes on cannabis legislation. Some of those amendments contain other provisions that have “been added or it’s too broad,” Michelle recalled him saying. And while he’s not necessarily supportive of medical cannabis, there were certain areas where “he’s been misinformed.”

The group said that they worked through some of those misunderstandings and are actively working to inform him about the benefits of medical cannabis.

Sessions seemed especially understanding when MAMMA members described the “challenges and difficulties” of treating their children with traditional pharmaceuticals, which don’t always work and sometimes carry serious side effects.

“He was very moved by that and, I think, understood our position and why we feel so passionately about the issue,” she said. “I think there was a lot of understanding there on his end.”

In any case, there’s still a healthy amount of skepticism among advocates about the impact of these discussions in light of Sessions’s record. On Facebook, a number of people commented on MAMMA’s post about the meetings, arguing that the congressman is interminably stuck in his way.

Michelle said her group fully understands their perspective and the frustration many feel after decades of seeing legislation halted at the doorway. That said, she feels “it does the movement more good to bridge the gap and find common ground and see what his objections are” than avoiding any dialogue altogether.

“If there’s a way for us to find more mutual understanding, I think that makes sense,” she said
 
I don't get this title....it should say "Pete Sessions and Pete Sessions Block another...yada, yada"

The committees don't even get to debate or vote on these measures...Sessions just blocks them unilaterally.

The good new....Pete Sessions was fired by his electorate. Good luck and good riddance, Petey.



Pete Sessions And Republicans Block Another Marijuana Amendment

Anti-marijuana Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX) may have lost his reelection bid in the midterms, but for another few weeks he still has the power to prevent cannabis amendments from advancing as chairman of the House Rules Committee—and that’s just what he did on Wednesday.

This time, Sessions, who has overseen the blockage of more than three dozen separate cannabis-related proposals from even being considered on the House floor during the 115th Congress, shot down an amendment to ensure tax fairness for legal cannabis businesses.

The measure, filed by Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO), who is also leaving Capitol Hill soon after winning an election earlier this month to be Colorado’s next governor, would scale back the reach of the federal tax provision known as 280E.

Originally enacted in the 1980s, the policy was meant to stop drug cartel leaders writing off yachts and expensive cars from their tax returns. But today its plain language means that growers, processors and sellers of marijuana—still a Schedule I substance under federal law—cannot take business expense deductions that are available to operators in other sectors, even if they fully comply with state law. As a result, they are forced to pay effective tax rates that can approach 70 percent.

Polis’s amendment, which he was seeking to attach to a broader package of tax reforms being pushed by Republicans, would have amended the provision so that it would not apply to any “trade or business [that] consists of marijuana sales conducted in compliance with State law.”

But in a move that has come to be seen as expected for cannabis measures over the past several years, the Rules Committee refused to make the amendment “in order” and clear its path for a vote by the full House.

Legalization supporters are optimistic about their chances of getting 280E and other marijuana reforms to the House floor soon, though. In addition to Sessions losing his fight for reelection, the Democrats won control of the chamber in the midterms.

And Rep. James McGovern (D-MA), the incoming Rules Committee chairman, has already pledged that he will allow marijuana amendments to be considered by the full body when he takes over the panel’s gavel in January.
 
I'm putting this article here as everything in it is a direct result of Pete Session's electorate rejecting him (thank god) for another term in office


“Most Democrats would rather ignore it,” said Kevin Sabet, who heads the anti-legalization group Smart Approaches to Marijuana."

Sabet is delusional.....just look at NY Gubernatorial Democratic primary to see.....just watch, Sabet....dey' going to spank you good.



Marijuana industry hunts for votes after helping to oust top opponent

The marijuana industry, which is growing quickly in a handful of states where recreational use is legal, is turning its attention to Congress, plotting an aggressive legislative agenda it hopes will advance after years of stagnation.

Supporters of legalization hope the 116th Congress will move a handful of measures aimed at normalizing the marijuana industry. They will have help from several members of Congress — including several top Republicans — who want the federal government to stay out of what they see as a state’s rights issue.

“This is a place that Republicans and Democrats alike can agree that it shouldn’t be the place of the federal government to interfere,” said Aaron Smith, who heads the National Cannabis Industry Association.

Lobbyists for marijuana reform groups say they hope to pass new measures aimed at allowing cannabis businesses to access the federal banking system, giving those businesses access to tax breaks for business expenses that other industries take, and aligning federal policy with state policy in places where voters have already opted for legalization.

Though many of those measures had widespread support from both parties, they had run into a wall in recent years: House Rules Committee Chairman Pete Sessions (R-Texas).

Sessions blocked more than three dozen marijuana-related amendments from advancing to the House floor.

“The Rules Committee is a place that can stop things. So it stopped all of the efforts that I did and other members did to offer floor amendments that likely would have passed with Republican and Democratic support,” said Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.), now his state’s governor-elect, who introduced several amendments that would have benefited the cannabis industry. “Largely because of [Sessions’s] position with regard to marijuana, the committee didn’t allow Congress to vote on those.”

Before November’s midterm elections, Tom Rodgers, the lobbyist who blew the whistle on Jack Abramoff, organized the marijuana industry’s first real foray into federal electoral politics. Rodgers cobbled together $125,000 in contributions from three companies — Surterra, TGS Management and PalliaTech — to the House Majority PAC, part of the $2.5 million the group spent against Sessions.

Sessions lost to Rep.-elect Colin Allred (D) in November.

Legalization backers are more confident now that Sessions will be replaced atop the Rules Committee by Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.). McGovern, whose state voted to legalize marijuana in 2016, has said he would allow marijuana-related amendments to the House floor next year.

“Mr. McGovern has taken great pains to stress that he supports open rules,” said Tom Angell, a pro-legalization activist who publishes the Marijuana Moment newsletter. “He is very clearly on record saying marijuana amendments are fine.”

In the days after November’s elections, in which Democrats reclaimed control of the House, longtime legalization backer Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) sent a memo to House Democratic leaders outlining what he believed the House could achieve this year. Blumenauer called for hearings on descheduling marijuana as an illegal drug, increased federal research and addressing access to financial services.

“This movement is cresting,” Blumenauer wrote. “Now is our moment.”

Legalization opponents say they do not believe marijuana issues will be a high priority for a Democratic-controlled House that has just reclaimed the majority.

“Most Democrats would rather ignore it,” said Kevin Sabet, who heads the anti-legalization group Smart Approaches to Marijuana. “Some of this stuff is more likely than it has been, but it’s far from a done deal.”

Blumenauer and Rep. David Joyce (R-Ohio) are working with Sens. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), the point people in the upper chamber. Gardner and Warren have been collecting support for the Strengthening the Tenth Amendment Through Entrusting States (STATES) Act, a measure that would align state and federal marijuana policies.

While the House looks like more favorable terrain for the cannabis industry, the picture in the Senate is far more complicated. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) ushered a provision supporting hemp production into this year’s farm bill, but even marijuana backers know he will be a tougher sell on other cannabis legislation.

“We know that with Leader McConnell having just passed hemp legislation we will need to be methodically strategic in order to address his cannabis concerns,” Rodgers said.

“McConnell did what he did on hemp, and he’s ready to move on from marijuana. Check the box for his constituency in Kentucky,” Sabet said.

A McConnell spokesman did not return a request for comment.

Still, getting votes in the House is a step for the legalization industry, where advocates take a decidedly long view. Last year, the Joint Committee on Taxation provided the first estimate of revenue legal marijuana could generate at the federal level, at Gardner’s request — a sign that the panel takes the industry seriously enough to consider its economic implications.

The committee’s economists expected sales of up to $130 billion over the next 10 years, in just the eight states that had legalized recreational marijuana at that point.

There are other signs that marijuana backers are taking Capitol Hill more seriously: Twenty-two groups have reported hiring a total of 63 lobbyists to work on the STATES Act, including credit unions, the American Civil Liberties Union, the state of Colorado and the city of San Francisco. In 2017 and 2018, the industry spent more than $3.2 million lobbying Congress, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

“Over the years, the industry has become more and more engaged in campaigns, fundraising and politics,” Smith said. “Anybody who watched the midterm elections sees that politically the writing is on the wall.”
 

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