With a 228-164 vote, the MORE Act has passed the U.S. House of Representatives. The House will now send the bill to the Senate.
The vote which was mainly down party lines with 6 Democrats dissenting, had 5 Republicans voting in favor.
The Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act has been making its runs through the House and its committees since July of 2019. Representatives brought forth a resolution on Dec 3, for the bill to be considered on the floor by the House. No Republicans voted to consider the bill on both roll call votes. Only 3 Democrats opposed the bill.
The bill began deliberation this morning with both sides telling their thoughts on the bill in question.
“It is time for Congress to catch up with the reforms that states have enacted. It’s time for Congress to catch up with Americans,” stated Rep. (D)Sheila Jackson of Texas Congressional District (CD) 18.
Learn how to become a medical cannabis patient in Texas
Debate on the floor brought a surprise from some. Representative of CD-1 Florida (R)Matt Gaetz openly called the bill flawed but said he would support it as, “the federal government has lied to the people of this country about marijuana for a generation.”
Rep. (R)Andy Biggs of the 8-CD of Arizone falsely claimed that his state “barely” approves of this. This comes as the state recently legalized marijuana with a 60-40% vote. It’s no small margin. Rep. (R)Jim Jordan of Ohio’s 4-CD joined in on his opposition of the bill. Jordan cited a letter from the American Medical Association opposing the passing of the MORE Act. The letter aligns with the FDA stance that more research is needed and basically should only be pharmaceuticals that are cannabis-based.
The GOP then made a motion to recommit the federal marijuana legalization bill to add workplace drug testing language. The language added states that an employer may test an employee/applicant for cannabis use to ensure workplace and public safety.
Democrats widely did not vote, and if they did, voted against the measure. 23 Republicans voted for this measure.
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On the flip side Roger Williams has done this:
From Texas NORML – here’s how each TX Rep voted.
