Congressional Subcommittee Votes To Keep Blocking...

House lawmakers have advanced a spending bill that would maintain a
controversial provision preventing Washington, D.C. from using its own tax
dollars to create a regulated marijuana market.

On Monday, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and
General Government (FSGG) approved the legislation, retaining the rider
championed by anti-cannabis Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD).

To the disappointment of stakeholders and advocates, the FSGG legislation
did not contain any language on marijuana industry banking access, as was
included in the House spending bill during previous sessions.

Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) criticized appropriators for putting
forward a bill that restricts the District’s autonomy in a number of ways,
including the rider to “prohibit the use of funds to commercialize
recreational marijuana.”

“I am outraged at the number and scope of anti-D.C. home rule riders in the
bill released today,” Norton said in a press release on Sunday when the
legislative text was released.

“It is unsurprising that at a time when there are more frequent Republican
attacks on D.C. home rule than any time since the 1990s, the D.C.
appropriations bill reported out of a Republican-controlled subcommittee
contains numerous and extensive riders that would overrule the expressed
will of D.C. residents,” the congresswoman said in a separate statement
after the panel’s action on Monday. “I will use every tool at my disposal
to stop these riders from becoming law, and I commit to reminding my fellow
lawmakers across the aisle that D.C. residents deserve consideration equal
to that given to as their own constituents.”

*Here’s the language of the relevant section: *

*“SEC. 830.* (a) None of the Federal funds contained in this Act may be
used to enact or carry out any law, rule, or regulation to legalize or
otherwise reduce penalties associated with the possession, use, or
distribution of any Schedule I substance under the Controlled Substances
Act (21 U.S.C. 801 et seq.) or any tetrahydrocannabinols derivative.

(b) No funds available for obligation or expenditure by the District of
Columbia government under any authority may be used to enact any law, rule,
or regulation to legalize or otherwise reduce penalties associated with the
possession, use, or distribution of any Schedule I substance under the
Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C 801 et seq.) or any
tetrahydrocannabinols derivative for recreational purposes.”

Norton said in May that she would again again push her colleagues to join
her in an effort to remove the cannabis language.

“As Congress works on the fiscal year 2026 appropriation bill, I will
continue to fight to remove this rider,” she said, while referencing a
statement from the White House that called the District’s move to enact
local marijuana reform an example of a “failed” policy that “opened the
door to disorder.”

President Donald Trump’s budget request that he released last month similarly
contained the Harris rider preventing marijuana sales in D.C., despite
voters in the jurisdiction voting to approve legalization in 2014. Former
President Joe Biden also repeatedly requested the continuation of the D.C.
cannabis rider in budget proposals during his time in office.

While D.C. hasn’t been able to use its local funds to implement a system of
regulated recreational cannabis sales over the last decade, local officials
have taken steps to expand the city’s existing medical marijuana program as
a workaround.


*— Marijuana Moment is tracking hundreds of cannabis, psychedelics and drug
policy bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon
supporters pledging at least $25/month get access to our interactive maps,
charts and hearing calendar so they don’t miss any developments.*


*Learn more about our marijuana bill tracker and become a supporter on
Patreon to get access. —*

In other appropriations-related developments, a key Senate committee recently
included a variety of marijuana and psychedelics-related provisions in a
report attached to a pair of spending bills—including calls to allow U.S.
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) doctors to recommend medical cannabis
if the federal government reschedules it, exploring the possibility of
“reducing opioid use through medical marijuana” and cracking down on
illicit grow operations.

The Senate Appropriations Committee last week approved reports as well as
an underlying Justice Department spending bill that would maintain
protections for states with medical marijuana programs, while omitting a
separate proposal included in the House version of the annual
appropriations legislation that would prevent DOJ from rescheduling
cannabis.

The panel also approved the veterans funding bill along with an amendment allowing
VA doctors to recommend medical cannabis to their military veteran patients in
legal states.

Advocates remain concerned, however, about the House language that would
restrict DOJ from rescheduling cannabis, but the fact that it was not
incorporated into the Senate legislation likely diminishes the chances it
will ultimately be enacted when the final package is delivered to the
president’s desk.

The post Congressional Subcommittee Votes To Keep Blocking Marijuana Sales
In D.C. As Trump Requested In Budget appeared first on Marijuana Moment.