The Republican speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives has agreed to hold a committee debate and vote on a bill to federally legalize marijuana, the GOP congresswoman who is sponsoring the legislation says.
As one condition of her support for leadership’s unrelated proposal to raise the debt ceiling and cut various federal programs, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) secured a committee markup of the States Reform Act (SRA) that she filed last session, her office told Marijuana Moment on Thursday.
That bill, which has not yet been refiled for the new Congress, would end federal marijuana prohibition while taking specific steps to ensure that businesses in existing state markets can continue to operate unencumbered by changing federal rules.
Mace’s legislation was one of several cannabis reform proposals that were considered during a House Oversight subcommittee hearing last year, but it did not ultimately receive a vote.
With Republicans now in control of the House, the prospects of legalization advancing this Congress have dimmed significantly—but the congresswoman says she has now secured a commitment to action from Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), who has struggled to convince his caucus to support the debt ceiling proposal that Mace initially opposed before the two reached a compromise on cannabis and several of her other legislative priorities.
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