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With Republicans projected to win a majority of the House of Representatives after last week\u2019s midterm elections, Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) says Democrats who want to enact marijuana reform must either do it \u201cnow\u201d during the lame duck session or wait until \u201cmany years from now\u201d when his party has a shot at controlling Congress again.<\/p>\n
However, time is running short to act on reform while Democrats still have their majorities in both chambers, the senator cautioned.<\/p>\n
In an interview with NJ Spotlight News that was posted on Sunday, Booker was asked about the prospects of cannabis legislation advancing in the lame duck, which lasts until the new 118th Congress begins in early January. He started by pointing out that time is of the essence if leaders are going to move on the issue.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a greater understanding on these issues\u2014and I just have a feeling that we can get something done,\u201d he said. \u201cBut the problem we have right now is the clock. There\u2019s very little time in this lame duck and a lot of things that people want to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nHe added that he spoke with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NJ) after the election, which saw Democrats keep their majority in the chamber, and said \u201cit\u2019s just going to be hard to get as much done as we need to.\u201d<\/p>\n
Booker has previously spoken about plans that are in the works to introduce a package of incremental marijuana legislation<\/a> during the lame duck, and he\u2019s seemed optimistic about advancing what\u2019s colloquially known as SAFE Plus, a cannabis omnibus of sorts that\u2019s expected to contain marijuana banking reform, as well as other bipartisan provisions that could include expungements, cannabis research and veterans\u2019 access.<\/p>\n While he seemed to somewhat temper expectations on Sunday, he did signal that there\u2019s an urgency around marijuana in particular over the next few weeks given the new political dynamics in the House with Republicans in control.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen the House of Representatives takes over\u2014even though there\u2019s a lot of House members from states that have legalized marijuana in one way or the other\u2014I just don\u2019t see the Republicans wanting to advance that,\u201d the senator said.<\/p>\n \u201cSo it\u2019s either now, or it might be many years from now,\u201d Booker concluded.<\/p>\n \u2014 Advocates have similarly predicted that a congressional situation where Democrats kept the Senate but Republicans took the House would have significant implications for negotiations<\/a> around SAFE Plus in the short-term. The general thinking is that the pressure will be on for Democratic leadership, while reform friendly GOP members might similarly want to step up the push to pass some bipartisan reform.<\/p>\n Booker similarly said last month ahead of the elections that while he feels Congress has a \u201cgood shot\u201d of passing modest marijuana policy changes<\/a> in the lame duck, he worried that progress on the issue could be jeopardized with Republicans in control of either chamber.<\/p>\n After President Joe Biden issued a mass marijuana pardon and directed a scheduling review last month, the senator said he was \u201cvery hopeful\u201d<\/a> that additional reform can be enacted before the end of this Congress.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Schumer said late last month that Congress is getting \u201cvery close\u201d<\/a> to introducing and passing the marijuana reform package, citing progress he\u2019s made in discussions with a \u201cbunch of Republican senators.\u201d<\/p>\n The majority leader also spoke about cannabis banking issues at a recent White House event<\/a>, reiterating that he was working on the problem, according to the House sponsor of the standalone legislation.<\/p>\n Cannabis Regulators of Color Coalition (CRCC) released a paper in August that outlined what they view as shortcomings of the standalone SAFE Banking Act and recommended\u00a0several amendments to bolster its equity impact<\/a>.<\/p>\n Booker said at an event organized by CRCC that\u00a0the standalone legislation \u201crequires changes\u201d<\/a>\u00a0if it\u2019s going to advance before cannabis is federally legalized.<\/p>\n The senator initially signaled that he was coming around to marijuana banking reform (contingent on equity provisions) at a\u00a0Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing<\/a>\u00a0in July that he convened as chairman.<\/p>\n But in the months before he and his colleagues filed a legalization bill over the summer, Booker was\u00a0adamant about enacting comprehensive reform<\/a>\u00a0before advancing the incremental banking legislation. He said at one point \u201cI will lay myself down\u201d before letting the Senate take on banking first.<\/p>\n Attorney General Pressed To Enact Marijuana Non-Enforcement Policy For D.C.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The post Booker Says Marijuana Reform Can Pass \u2018Now\u2019 During Lame Duck Or \u2018Many Years From Now\u2019 After GOP Takes House Control<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
With Republicans projected to win a majority of the House of Representatives after last week\u2019s midterm elections, Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) says Democrats who want to enact marijuana reform must either do it \u201cnow\u201d during the lame duck session or wait until \u201cmany years from now\u201d when his party hasContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":58033,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81,126],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58032"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58032"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58032\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58034,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58032\/revisions\/58034"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: Booker Says Marijuana Reform Can Pass \u2018Now\u2019 During Lame Duck Or \u2018Many Years From Now\u2019 After GOP Takes House Control<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"