The Word 'Cannabis' Appears More Than 'Job' in the Democrats' New Stimulus Bill
Republicans are not happy with the marijuana provisions included in the $3 trillion coronavirus bill introduced by House Democrats this week, calling out lawmakers for using the word cannabis more than job in the economic relief package.
"The bold new policy from Washington Democrats that will kick coronavirus to the curb and save American families from this crisis—here it is, here it is: new annual studies on diversity and inclusion within the cannabis industry," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Thursday during a floor speech.
"The word cannabis appears in the bill 68 times. More times than the word job and four times as many as the word hire," McConnell added, arguing that the bill is a "totally unserious effort" that's unlikely to become law.
The Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act, which will come to a vote in the House on Friday, includes a provision that would protect banks that service marijuana businesses from being penalized by federal regulators. The measure includes language requiring research on minority-owned and women-owned marijuana companies.
The Secure and Fair Enforcement Banking Act was passed last year but has been in limbo in the Senate. It has five Republican co-sponsors in the Senate, including Cory Gardner of Colorado and Rand Paul of Kentucky.
Marijuana advocates have also been pushing lawmakers to extend access to federal Small Business Administration relief programs to cannabis businesses in coronavirus legislation. But those measures didn't make it into the HEROES Act.
McConnell's gripe with the marijuana measures has been echoed by several Republican lawmakers.
Representative Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) said it's "suspicious" when more language is devoted to marijuana than jobs.
"You know something is suspicious when the word 'cannabis' is used 68 times—more than 'job' or 'jobs' combined—in an economic stimulus bill. I'm not sure what they were smoking, but whatever socialist euphoria they're feeling will fade fast when it arrives in the Senate," he tweeted.
Senator Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana) tweeted that "@SpeakerPelosi's $3 trillion bill is a liberal wish list that's dead on arrival in the Senate. When your "jobs" bill mentions cannabis more than jobs, there's a problem."
Unlike the last four coronavirus relief measures, the HEROES Act isn't a product of bipartisan negotiations. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has defended the ambitious package, arguing that "we must think big for the people now, because if we don't it will cost more in lives and livelihood later. Not acting is the most expensive course."
Some of the biggest provisions in the bill include $500 billion in aid for state governments, a $200 billion "Heroes' Fund" to ensure that essential workers receive hazard pay, an extension of unemployment benefits, another round of stimulus checks, assistance to the United States Postal Service and funding for election security.
<figure class="imageBox" style=""> <source type="image/webp" media="(min-width: 992px)" data-srcset="https://d.newsweek.com/en/full/1590551/senate-republicans-weekly-luncheon-may-2020.webp?w=790&f=7e0d9b3dea0db430d3b1df6f19dc50be 1x"><source type="image/jpeg" media="(min-width: 992px)" data-srcset="https://d.newsweek.com/en/full/1590551/senate-republicans-weekly-luncheon-may-2020.jpg?w=790&f=7e0d9b3dea0db430d3b1df6f19dc50be 1x"><source type="image/webp" media="(min-width: 768px)" data-srcset="https://d.newsweek.com/en/full/1590551/senate-republicans-weekly-luncheon-may-2020.webp?w=900&f=8345db53aae683a318f51b2d667585d0 1x"><source type="image/jpeg" media="(min-width: 768px)" data-srcset="https://d.newsweek.com/en/full/1590551/senate-republicans-weekly-luncheon-may-2020.jpg?w=900&f=8345db53aae683a318f51b2d667585d0 1x"><source type="image/webp" media="(min-width: 481px)" data-srcset="https://d.newsweek.com/en/full/1590551/senate-republicans-weekly-luncheon-may-2020.webp?w=790&f=7e0d9b3dea0db430d3b1df6f19dc50be 1x"><source type="image/jpeg" media="(min-width: 481px)" data-srcset="https://d.newsweek.com/en/full/1590551/senate-republicans-weekly-luncheon-may-2020.jpg?w=790&f=7e0d9b3dea0db430d3b1df6f19dc50be 1x"><source type="image/webp" media="(min-width: 0px)" data-srcset="https://d.newsweek.com/en/full/1590551/senate-republicans-weekly-luncheon-may-2020.webp?w=450&f=4726e48c9719766e11d9c271f210847b 1x"><source type="image/jpeg" media="(min-width: 0px)" data-srcset="https://d.newsweek.com/en/full/1590551/senate-republicans-weekly-luncheon-may-2020.jpg?w=450&f=4726e48c9719766e11d9c271f210847b 1x"><source type="image/webp" data-srcset="https://d.newsweek.com/en/full/1590551/senate-republicans-weekly-luncheon-may-2020.webp?w=790&f=7e0d9b3dea0db430d3b1df6f19dc50be">
<figcaption class="caption"> Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell speaks to members of the press as Senate Majority Whip John Thune and Senator John Barrasso listen after the weekly Senate Republican Policy Luncheon on May 12. Getty/Alex Wong </figcaption>
</figure>But Republicans say that the bill is "dead on arrival" in the Senate even if it passes in the House on Friday.
"What you've seen in the House from Nancy is not something designed to deal with reality but designed to deal with aspirations. This is not a time for aspirational legislation. This is a time for practical response to the coronavirus pandemic," McConnell told reporters earlier this week.
Democrats’ $3T coronavirus bill has more mentions of cannabis than jobs
By Ebony Bowden and Steven Nelson
May 15, 2020 | 6:32pm
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi unveiled the relief package on Friday. EPA
WASHINGTON — Democrats’ coronavirus efforts have gone to pot.
A behemoth 1,800-page, $3 trillion coronavirus relief package unveiled by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and doomed to go up in smoke in the Senate includes more than 68 references to the word “cannabis.”
The phrase “jobs” appears 52 times and the word “hire” just 17 times as the economy craters and a record 36 million Americans file for unemployment.
Top House Democrats included provisions in the bill allowing state-legal marijuana businesses to access financial services during the pandemic, but does not allow them to apply for relief funds through the Small Business Administration.
It’s a bipartisan issue, backed by the likes of GOP Sen. Cory Gardner from Colorado who is facing a tough re-election battle in November, but many Republicans questioned the outsize focus on cannabis in the sprawling coronavirus bailout bill up for a House vote Friday.
The package also includes a second wave of $1,200 stimulus checks, $175 billion for housing assistance and a trillion dollars for state and local governments to pay for vital workers including police and nurses.
But the Democrat grab bag was met with a chorus of criticism from Republicans when it removed a working requirement for food stamps, omitted language restricting abortion funding and added protections against deportation of illegal immigrants.
Republicans have flatly rejected passing the HEROES Act — Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), who managed morning House floor debate for Republicans, saying “As a package, it’s going nowhere.”
“It would make more to sense in my view, Madam Speaker, to send it straight to Santa Claus,” Cole said on Friday morning.
One GOP Hill source said the package was “dead on arrival” — a sentiment some Democrat lawmakers also shared after quickly resigning themselves to the fact it was an opening shot.
“It’s political messaging only,” Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) told The Post on Wednesday.
“There’s no chance in the Senate and they know it. Any time they start adding in attempts to provide federal funding for abortions in a COVID-19 response, we know they’re not serious,” he said.
https://www.newsweek.com/cannabis-appears-more-job-democrats-new-stimulus-bill-1504393
https://nypost.com/2020/05/15/democrats-coronavirus-bill-mentions-cannabis-more-than-jobs/
Republicans are not happy with the marijuana provisions included in the $3 trillion coronavirus bill introduced by House Democrats this week, calling out lawmakers for using the word cannabis more than job in the economic relief package.
"The bold new policy from Washington Democrats that will kick coronavirus to the curb and save American families from this crisis—here it is, here it is: new annual studies on diversity and inclusion within the cannabis industry," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Thursday during a floor speech.
"The word cannabis appears in the bill 68 times. More times than the word job and four times as many as the word hire," McConnell added, arguing that the bill is a "totally unserious effort" that's unlikely to become law.
The Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act, which will come to a vote in the House on Friday, includes a provision that would protect banks that service marijuana businesses from being penalized by federal regulators. The measure includes language requiring research on minority-owned and women-owned marijuana companies.
The Secure and Fair Enforcement Banking Act was passed last year but has been in limbo in the Senate. It has five Republican co-sponsors in the Senate, including Cory Gardner of Colorado and Rand Paul of Kentucky.
Marijuana advocates have also been pushing lawmakers to extend access to federal Small Business Administration relief programs to cannabis businesses in coronavirus legislation. But those measures didn't make it into the HEROES Act.
McConnell's gripe with the marijuana measures has been echoed by several Republican lawmakers.
Representative Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) said it's "suspicious" when more language is devoted to marijuana than jobs.
"You know something is suspicious when the word 'cannabis' is used 68 times—more than 'job' or 'jobs' combined—in an economic stimulus bill. I'm not sure what they were smoking, but whatever socialist euphoria they're feeling will fade fast when it arrives in the Senate," he tweeted.
Senator Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana) tweeted that "@SpeakerPelosi's $3 trillion bill is a liberal wish list that's dead on arrival in the Senate. When your "jobs" bill mentions cannabis more than jobs, there's a problem."
Unlike the last four coronavirus relief measures, the HEROES Act isn't a product of bipartisan negotiations. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has defended the ambitious package, arguing that "we must think big for the people now, because if we don't it will cost more in lives and livelihood later. Not acting is the most expensive course."
Some of the biggest provisions in the bill include $500 billion in aid for state governments, a $200 billion "Heroes' Fund" to ensure that essential workers receive hazard pay, an extension of unemployment benefits, another round of stimulus checks, assistance to the United States Postal Service and funding for election security.
<figure class="imageBox" style=""> <source type="image/webp" media="(min-width: 992px)" data-srcset="https://d.newsweek.com/en/full/1590551/senate-republicans-weekly-luncheon-may-2020.webp?w=790&f=7e0d9b3dea0db430d3b1df6f19dc50be 1x"><source type="image/jpeg" media="(min-width: 992px)" data-srcset="https://d.newsweek.com/en/full/1590551/senate-republicans-weekly-luncheon-may-2020.jpg?w=790&f=7e0d9b3dea0db430d3b1df6f19dc50be 1x"><source type="image/webp" media="(min-width: 768px)" data-srcset="https://d.newsweek.com/en/full/1590551/senate-republicans-weekly-luncheon-may-2020.webp?w=900&f=8345db53aae683a318f51b2d667585d0 1x"><source type="image/jpeg" media="(min-width: 768px)" data-srcset="https://d.newsweek.com/en/full/1590551/senate-republicans-weekly-luncheon-may-2020.jpg?w=900&f=8345db53aae683a318f51b2d667585d0 1x"><source type="image/webp" media="(min-width: 481px)" data-srcset="https://d.newsweek.com/en/full/1590551/senate-republicans-weekly-luncheon-may-2020.webp?w=790&f=7e0d9b3dea0db430d3b1df6f19dc50be 1x"><source type="image/jpeg" media="(min-width: 481px)" data-srcset="https://d.newsweek.com/en/full/1590551/senate-republicans-weekly-luncheon-may-2020.jpg?w=790&f=7e0d9b3dea0db430d3b1df6f19dc50be 1x"><source type="image/webp" media="(min-width: 0px)" data-srcset="https://d.newsweek.com/en/full/1590551/senate-republicans-weekly-luncheon-may-2020.webp?w=450&f=4726e48c9719766e11d9c271f210847b 1x"><source type="image/jpeg" media="(min-width: 0px)" data-srcset="https://d.newsweek.com/en/full/1590551/senate-republicans-weekly-luncheon-may-2020.jpg?w=450&f=4726e48c9719766e11d9c271f210847b 1x"><source type="image/webp" data-srcset="https://d.newsweek.com/en/full/1590551/senate-republicans-weekly-luncheon-may-2020.webp?w=790&f=7e0d9b3dea0db430d3b1df6f19dc50be">
</figure>But Republicans say that the bill is "dead on arrival" in the Senate even if it passes in the House on Friday.
"What you've seen in the House from Nancy is not something designed to deal with reality but designed to deal with aspirations. This is not a time for aspirational legislation. This is a time for practical response to the coronavirus pandemic," McConnell told reporters earlier this week.
Democrats’ $3T coronavirus bill has more mentions of cannabis than jobs
By Ebony Bowden and Steven Nelson
May 15, 2020 | 6:32pm
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi unveiled the relief package on Friday. EPA
WASHINGTON — Democrats’ coronavirus efforts have gone to pot.
A behemoth 1,800-page, $3 trillion coronavirus relief package unveiled by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and doomed to go up in smoke in the Senate includes more than 68 references to the word “cannabis.”
The phrase “jobs” appears 52 times and the word “hire” just 17 times as the economy craters and a record 36 million Americans file for unemployment.
Top House Democrats included provisions in the bill allowing state-legal marijuana businesses to access financial services during the pandemic, but does not allow them to apply for relief funds through the Small Business Administration.
It’s a bipartisan issue, backed by the likes of GOP Sen. Cory Gardner from Colorado who is facing a tough re-election battle in November, but many Republicans questioned the outsize focus on cannabis in the sprawling coronavirus bailout bill up for a House vote Friday.
The package also includes a second wave of $1,200 stimulus checks, $175 billion for housing assistance and a trillion dollars for state and local governments to pay for vital workers including police and nurses.
But the Democrat grab bag was met with a chorus of criticism from Republicans when it removed a working requirement for food stamps, omitted language restricting abortion funding and added protections against deportation of illegal immigrants.
Republicans have flatly rejected passing the HEROES Act — Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), who managed morning House floor debate for Republicans, saying “As a package, it’s going nowhere.”
“It would make more to sense in my view, Madam Speaker, to send it straight to Santa Claus,” Cole said on Friday morning.
One GOP Hill source said the package was “dead on arrival” — a sentiment some Democrat lawmakers also shared after quickly resigning themselves to the fact it was an opening shot.
“It’s political messaging only,” Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) told The Post on Wednesday.
“There’s no chance in the Senate and they know it. Any time they start adding in attempts to provide federal funding for abortions in a COVID-19 response, we know they’re not serious,” he said.
https://www.newsweek.com/cannabis-appears-more-job-democrats-new-stimulus-bill-1504393
https://nypost.com/2020/05/15/democrats-coronavirus-bill-mentions-cannabis-more-than-jobs/
