By
A key House committee on Monday rejected bipartisan spending bill amendments to promote veterans’ medical marijuana access on procedural grounds, while another pair of measures to provide protections for people who use cannabis in federally assisted public housing was pulled before the panel had a chance to vote.
Advocates had hoped that the House Rules Committee would make in order each of the amendments and clear them for floor consideration. But those hopes were dashed in short order on Monday amid disagreements about the appropriateness of pursuing the policy reform measures through spending legislation.
The panel also refused to allow a measure that includes provisions to make it easier to study Schedule I substances like marijuana and many psychedelics to move to the floor vote a vote.
Rep. Dave Joyce (R-OH) attempted to defend the germaneness of his veterans amendments, which he’d revised ahead of the Rules meeting after consulting with the House Parliamentarian to avoid exactly this kind of issue. The latest version of the measure would have prevented the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) from using its funds to enforce specific policies that block VA doctors from recommending medical cannabis to veterans, as well as a separate directive barring VA from paying for marijuana as a covered health treatment.
In other words, it wouldn’t force VA to spend money in a certain way, or even require it to revise its rules. Instead, it would have imposed a restriction on spending appropriated dollars to enforce select cannabis policies prescribed under a 2017 directive.
Meanwhile, the specific issue of allowing VA doctors to make medical marijuana recommendations was addressed in an amendment to a separate, must-pass defense bill that passed the House last week.
H/T:
