Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is making a \u201cpledge\u201d to keep working on federally decriminalizing marijuana in 2023 after advocates faced a series of reform setbacks this month.<\/p>\n
Speaking on the Senate floor on Thursday, Schumer acknowledged the work of a key staffer, Reggie Babin, who is departing from his office after spearheading legislative efforts to advance cannabis reform.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are a couple of things that he didn\u2019t get done\u2014his goal to help us decriminalize marijuana, one of his passions because he had seen how badly it had hurt communities throughout the country,\u201d the majority leader said. \u201cWe came close, but we didn\u2019t make it.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, Schumer said that it\u2019s his \u201cpledge\u201d to Babin that \u201cwe\u2019re going to continue your work and your legacy next year.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have built a great bipartisan coalition, and I believe we can get it done,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
While Schumer did produce a comprehensive marijuana legalization bill in July, alongside Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), it\u2019s been clear that the wide-ranging legislation did not have enough support to clear the 60-vote threshold for passage in the Senate.<\/p>\n
So Schumer has worked to finalize a package of more incremental reforms, centering around cannabis banking and expungements. Advocates hoped the legislation would be attached to large-scale spending or defense bills that needed to move before the end of the session, but that did not happen, in large part because supporters faced opposition from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY)<\/a>\u00a0and other Republicans.<\/p>\n The lead House sponsor of the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act, Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-CO), filed an amendment to the appropriations omnibus bill<\/a> on Friday to include the reforms, but it was essentially a symbolic gesture before his retirement from Congress and he didn\u2019t force a vote on it.<\/p>\n A Senate source said recently that Schumer was \u201cmaking a last ditch effort\u201d to attach the cannabis banking language<\/a>\u00a0to the spending bill\u2014but the majority leader wasn\u2019t able to get the deal done. He said the issue would need to wait until the next Congress, which will see Republicans in control of the House.<\/p>\n It\u2019s clear that negotiations were sensitive around adding anything new to the spending bill, and drug policy reform suffered as a final deal was forged. In addition to the lack of SAFE Banking or SAFE Plus language, the legislation also\u00a0omitted several other reform proposals that were attached<\/a>\u00a0to spending measures approved in the House and Senate earlier this year. The final bill also maintains a rider that blocks Washington, D.C. from implementing a system of regulated cannabis commerce\u2014another major setback for advocates.<\/p>\n Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sherrod Brown (D-OH) had signaled that\u00a0he viewed cannabis banking as a likely 2023 issue<\/a>, though a staffer said this month that he was still be open to passing it through the spending package if it contained broader provisions.<\/p>\n Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC), who will serve as chairman of the House Financial Services Committee in the next Congress, recently indicated that he similarly feels the issue\u00a0will need to be decided after the lame duck<\/a>. The congressman said that he remains opposed to SAFE Banking, but he left the door open to advancing it if that\u2019s the will of his Republican colleagues.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat I\u2019ve pledged is having an open process. I told my members my view of it,\u201d he said. \u201cMembers are able to come to their own conclusion about the bill. It\u2019s so variable state by state.\u201d<\/p>\n For his part, Booker has also pinned blame on McConnell, saying that his vocal opposition to cannabis reform has had a chilling effect of GOP members who might otherwise be amenable to passing legislation that contains SAFE Banking language.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re dead set on anything in marijuana,\u201d he said, referring to Republican leadership. \u201cThat to me is the obstacle.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe caucus is clearly divided but the people in power in their caucus are clearly against doing anything on marijuana,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Google Ends Ban On Advertising Certain Hemp And CBD Products In Parts Of U.S.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The post Schumer Makes \u2018Pledge\u2019 To Tackle Federal Marijuana Decriminalization \u2018Next Year\u2019<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is making a \u201cpledge\u201d to keep working on federally decriminalizing marijuana in 2023 after advocates faced a series of reform setbacks this month. Speaking on the Senate floor on Thursday, Schumer acknowledged the work of a key staffer, Reggie Babin, who is departing fromContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":0,"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\/59857"}],"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=59857"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59857\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59858,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59857\/revisions\/59858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: Schumer Makes \u2018Pledge\u2019 To Tackle Federal Marijuana Decriminalization \u2018Next Year\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"