Congressional spending bill loses House-passed marijuana riders

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The divide continues on Capitol Hill as lawmakers can’t agree on cannabis standards

After several negotiations with the Senate, the House Democrats were not able to attach several provisions related to marijuana to spending legislation of a larger scale. Advocates for this reform were hoping that the Senate would approve a series of measures, even though the chamber is controlled by Republicans. This appropriations bill grants protection to both state and tribal cannabis programs across the country from federal interference; however, in spite of the negotiations, the regular agreement was kept in which the only shops protected are those specifically for medical cannabis, just as it has been approved since 2014.

The final version of the spending legislation for Fiscal Year 2020 needs to be voted by both chambers and send out to the president before Friday, which is the deadline to avoid a shutdown from the government. This bill also had a proposal that will give protection to those banks that service the cannabis market from receiving federal penalizations; however, this portion was included in the House bill only.

Included in the appropriations bill there was a provision that continues to hold the restriction to Washington D.C to use the local tax revenue to start a cannabis sales program. The House version of the bill didn’t include this provision, which means that they could’ve just cleared the path for cannabis legalization in Washington, and the negotiators couldn’t do much to keep it in the Senate version.

These spending bills not passing, plus the veterans-focused marijuana provisions that weren’t approved either, are the two biggest losses for cannabis reform in the country.