TX Cannabis Collective

Here’s the Texans who voted on the MORE act in Judiciary Committee

Jesse Williams

On November 20th, 2019 the House Judiciary Committee voted to advance the MORE Act for a full House vote. Of the committee, 5 were representatives of Texas, and only 4 of them voted on the measure. The representatives were as follows: Sheila Jackson Lee (TX-18), Sylvia Garcia (TX-29), Veronica Escobar (TX-16), Louis Gohmert (TX-01) and John Ratcliffe (TX-04). Ratcliffe was the Texas representative that did not vote.

Sheila J. Lee is currently serving her 13th term as a representative of district 18 which primarily serves Houston. Lee is part of the Congressional Black Caucus and a CBC whip. She is currently a cosponsor of the MORE act and it would be highly unlikely that she vote against it unless a partisan rider is placed in the bill that is heavily disagreed upon. Lee tends to focus on issues that affect minorities which have been impacted more by the war on drugs than any other group; so, the MORE act is something that would benefit the ideology she proposes for helping out the disadvantaged in America. As well, given her previous record of voting, it is no surprise that she voted for this measure.

Images from cannabisvoter.info

Sylvia Garcia was elected to Congress in 2018 after previously being an elected member of the Texas Senate. Garcia is part of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and Congressional Progressive Caucus. She has stated in the past that she does not support the full legalization of cannabis for recreational use but does support its legalization for medical use in 2018. She has voted in favor of other cannabis bills in the past, and her vote on the MORE act in committee may have been a sign of a change of heart for the representative. Time will tell when it comes to vote on the House floor.

Veronica Escobar was elected to Congress in 2018 after previously resigning from the county judge position of El Paso in 2017 to run for her current office. Escobar is a member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Congressional Progressive Caucus and New Democrat Coalition. Escobar was a communications director for a former El Paso mayor, that when he was not reelected decided along with Susie Byrd, attorney Steve Ortega and businessman Beto O’Rourke—to enter public service; they started to discuss grassroots strategies with the goals of improving urban planning, creating a more diversified economy with more highly skilled jobs, as well as ending systemic corruption among city leadership. Given this was the claim to why she would have wanted to be elected to public office, it would follow that Escobar would vote in favor of and cosponsor something such as the MORE Act.

Louie Gohmert has been in office since 2005 and is currently serving his 8th term as the representative of Texas District 1. Gohmert is known nationwide for making statements that ruffle feathers and unsuccessfully challenging John Boehner for the position of Speaker of the House. Gohmert is a member of Freedom Caucus, Israel Allies Caucus, United States Congressional International Conservation Caucus, Tea Party Caucus, Republican Study Committee, Congressional NextGen 9-1-1 Caucus and Congressional Western Caucus. About the only thing positive that Gohmert possibly could have said about cannabis was when talking about a government shut down Gohmert stated that the most compassionate thing the US could do for Mexico and Central America was to not bestow either country with “money that ends up in the hands of drug cartels.” Gohmert voted no despite polling indicating that 53% of his voters (he covers Lufkin, Tyler and Longview area) want legalization to take place in some form.

About the MORE Act, Gohmert stated, “This should not be rushed into.” Gohmert has also referred and appropriately dubbed the recent moves by Congress to change the laws regarding cannabis as the “War on the War on Drugs.” Unfortunately with Gohmert’s history and his area in the past being staunchly for the War on Drugs, he more than likely says that quip as a sign of bad things in congress.

Here’s the types of social media posts he has about cannabis. A striking similarity to when police post about cannabis busts.

John Ratcliffe is serving his third term as the representative of Texas congressional district 4. He did not vote in committee on the MORE Act despite being a member of the committee. Ratcliffe has not been vocal about his stance on the subject other than his prior voting history. And with that in mind, he cosponsored the Charlotte’s Web Medical Access Act that would have exempted CBD from federal marijuana prohibitions. However, he has voted against all other major marijuana reform legislation so far in his congressional career. The character shown here indicates he will more than likely vote no on the House floor.

Tell us what you think below and be sure to reach out to your representative to tell them to support the MORE Act when it comes to a house floor vote.

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