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With Republicans expected to take control of the U.S. House of Representatives next session, a GOP congresswoman says there\u2019s an urgent need for bipartisan collaboration on the issue of marijuana so lawmakers can reach consensus on a path forward to end federal prohibition.<\/p>\n
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), sponsor of a cannabis legalization bill that she filed earlier this year<\/a>, told Marijuana Moment in a phone interview on Tuesday that she\u2019s encouraging her Republican colleagues to take lessons from a congressional cannabis hearing<\/a> take took place earlier in the day and \u201clook at the data\u201d to inform next steps.<\/p>\n \u201cWith Republicans in the majority in the House, if Democrats in the Senate want to get it done, both sides of the aisle have to work together so that any concerns that Democrats or Republicans have [are] addressed,\u201d Mace said.<\/p>\n Senate Democrats share that sense of urgency, with Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) saying on Sunday that reform can either pass \u201cnow\u201d during the lame duck session or possibly \u201cmany years from now\u201d with GOP in control<\/a> of the House in the 118th Congress.<\/p>\n Looking beyond the lame duck, however, Mace recognizes that the political prospects of reform depend in large part on the willingness of incoming Republican leadership in the House to advance the issue, and so while she said she plans to refile her States Reform Act (SRA) to legalize marijuana, the congresswoman says it\u2019s important to consider \u201cthe steps we can take incrementally over the next legislative session to move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBecause the only place that cannabis is controversial is in D.C.,\u201d the congresswoman said.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m encouraging all my Republican colleagues to watch the hearing today. There were very few Republican objections,\u201d she said (even as one GOP member of the panel raised eyebrows by comparing legal cannabis sales to slavery).<\/p>\n \u201cLook at the data that we presented, look at the information, the stories\u2014this is winning for America,\u201d Mace said. \u201cBut we have got to work together. Both sides have to reach across the aisle given the makeup of the next legislative term.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2014 The House has been supportive of legalization under Democratic control, with the chamber voting for the second time in April to pass a comprehensive bill to end prohibition from Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act.<\/p>\n It\u2019s the Senate that\u2019s proved most challenging in the fight to end prohibition, with even modest bills like one to provide cannabis banking protections that\u2019s cleared the House in some form seven times stalling in the opposite chamber under both Republican and Democratic majorities.<\/p>\n Now, especially with the election outcome, the pressure is on to do something with the remaining weeks of the lame duck session. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has been working to finalize a package of marijuana reforms that\u2019s expected to include banking and expungement language, and possibly more.<\/p>\n Mace said that she\u2019s \u201chopeful\u201d that such a package could advance, even during the short window before her party takes control of the House.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t want us to sit on the sidelines and do nothing next session like we always have,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to modernize our laws, modernize our regulations. We need to make sure that we\u2019re not funding the cartels by not moving the ball forward\u2014that we are being smart about it and saving lives. This is where we can make that work happen.\u201d<\/p>\n The congresswoman separately spoke about the path forward for marijuana reform during an appearance on Fox Business\u2019s \u201cKennedy\u201d on Tuesday, saying that the way the election panned out with a GOP House and Democratic Senate reflects a \u201cmandate by the citizens of our country to reach across the aisle and work together.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI spent a lot of time on this issue, and it\u2019s great to show the country, the United States of America, that this is an issue where we can really come together,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n While Schumer, Booker and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-OR) filed their own broad legalization bill in July, the so-called SAFE Plus legislation that leadership is hoping to push through during the lame duck is not expected to contain the key descheduling provision that\u2019s also in Mace\u2019s SRA.<\/p>\n And while much rides on GOP leadership in the House, some advocates like NORML Political Director Morgan Fox recently told Marijuana Moment that they don\u2019t necessarily view it as an impossibility<\/a> that the chamber moves on something that goes beyond the incremental next session.<\/p>\n If they do, \u201cthen the Senate would be a somewhat easier lift,\u201d despite the steep 60-vote threshold required to pass legislation through the chamber, Fox said. He also agreed that the new dynamic\u2014a GOP House and Democratic Senate\u2014\u201cactually does provide a little bit more urgency for incremental measures in lame duck.\u201d<\/p>\n But once that window closes, it\u2019s an open question as to what the Republican House might be willing to stomach in terms of comprehensive reform, even with GOP allies like Mace and Congressional Cannabis Caucus co-chair Dave Joyce (R-OH) advocating for change.<\/p>\n With respect to future leadership in the House, with Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) winning an internal caucus vote for nomination to be speaker on Tuesday, Mace said that she\u2019s \u201conly going to support leaders who understand that my issues might be different than other members issues and that are open to working with me on a number of different fronts.\u201d<\/p>\n McCarthy, who has voted for cannabis banking legislation but against legalization measures, will still need to get 218 votes on the floor of the House in January to become speaker.<\/p>\n Mace said that she hasn\u2019t yet talked directly to McCarthy about marijuana but she does \u201cintend to speak with my leadership about what we might be able to achieve and in what what direction and in what order can we get some movement on this issue.\u201d<\/p>\n We’ve got to move #cannabis<\/a> forward in a fair and responsible way. #SRA<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Rep. Nancy Mace (@RepNancyMace) November 16, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n She pointed out that, during last week\u2019s election, she flipped Democratic precincts in here South Carolina district and \u201coutperformed every measure, including in Republican precincts\u201d while campaigning on a pro-legalization platform.<\/p>\n \u201cI proved that as a fiscal conservative, this is a winning issue,\u201d she said. \u201cYou\u2019re going to win your primaries and your general elections. The majority of America is with you.\u201d<\/p>\n To that point, the latest Gallup poll that was released on Tuesday found that national support for legalization has held steady, with 68 percent of Americans in favor of the policy change<\/a>. That includes 51 percent of Republicans.<\/p>\n But as last week\u2019s election has demonstrated, support is increasingly contingent on the details of the reform\u2014and that\u2019s as true of the public as it is Congress. Mace is hoping that her SRA, which puts an emphasis on ensuring that state cannabis markets and small businesses aren\u2019t undermined by federal legalization, strikes the right balance for members on both sides.<\/p>\n The congresswoman pointed to the fact that advocacy groups from divergent ideological backgrounds, from NORML to Americans for Prosperity\u2014have voiced support for her proposal.<\/p>\n Still, there are festering concerns about the underlying idea, which Mace has promoted, of shaping federal cannabis regulations in such a way where the plant is treated the same as alcohol.<\/p>\n After Tuesday\u2019s hearing, a coalition of advocates sent a letter<\/a> to Mace and Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD)\u2014who serve as ranking member and chair of the House Oversight subcommittee, respectively\u2014criticizing that concept and taking issue with the fact that a tobacco industry-funded marijuana reform group was invited to participate.<\/p>\n If we treat cannabis like alcohol \u2013 we can legalize it overnight.#SRA<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Rep. Nancy Mace (@RepNancyMace) November 16, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n While Mace argued that treating cannabis like alcohol is way to expeditiously advance legalization, she told Marijuana Moment that she does understand that there are conflicting views and \u201cthere always has to be concern about industry shaping and influencing legislation.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut that\u2019s why I try to look at it from every angle and ensure that every side is represented\u2014from from small businesses to large\u2014that we\u2019re looking at it in a way that\u2019s fair,\u201d the congresswoman said. \u201cI think that\u2019s really important to not have any undue influence.\u201d<\/p>\n Maryland Lawmakers\u2019 Marijuana Workgroup Discusses Tax Options In First Meeting Since Voters Approved Legalization On Ballot<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The post GOP Congresswoman Discusses Plans To Advance \u2018Winning\u2019 Marijuana Issue Under New House Majority<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
With Republicans expected to take control of the U.S. House of Representatives next session, a GOP congresswoman says there\u2019s an urgent need for bipartisan collaboration on the issue of marijuana so lawmakers can reach consensus on a path forward to end federal prohibition. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), sponsor of aContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":58103,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58102"}],"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=58102"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58102\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58104,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58102\/revisions\/58104"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: GOP Congresswoman Discusses Plans To Advance \u2018Winning\u2019 Marijuana Issue Under New House Majority<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"