Odds are Congress will leave town without carrying out Republican members’ threatened interference in the District’s gun laws or marijuana decriminalization legislation.
Kentucky Senator Rand Paul’s amendments to a sportsman’s hunting bill, aimed at killing DC’s gun control laws, were rendered harmless when the hunting bill itself died Thursday afternoon.
Meanwhile, amendments offered by Maryland Representative Andy Harris that would defund the District’s pot decriminalization laws will almost certainly not make it past the Senate.
DC Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton doesn’t expect any other attempts to change the District’s regulation of firearms to succeed now that Paul’s gun amendments flat-out failed. “They’re becoming less and less serious,” she tells Washingtonian. “The NRA has gone on to other things.”
Harris’s amendment has a good chance of making it out of the House. The Republican, who represents counties around Baltimore and along the Chesapeake Bay, amended a House appropriations bill to prevent the District from using funds to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana. That bill is likely to reach the House floor next week and get approved.
“I’m having to fight a little harder on that one,” says Norton.
But the Senate will not consider the spending legislation with Harris’s language. Senate appropriations committees are done for the year and cannot take up the House bills. Congress will most likely fund the government with short-term, continuing resolutions. These resolutions rarely include amendments like the one Harris attached.
“While our goal is to include this language in any bill that will fund the government after September 30,” says Harris’s spokesman Chris Meekins, “that question is still up in the air.”
Translation: Congress will not interfere with the District’s legislation, and possession of small amounts of pot will be decriminalized in the nation’s capital.
Congress May Not Interfere With DC’s Marijuana Decriminalization Legislation, After All
An amendment blocking the new policy will likely not make it out of the Senate.
Odds are Congress will leave town without carrying out Republican members’ threatened interference in the District’s gun laws or marijuana decriminalization legislation.
Kentucky Senator Rand Paul’s amendments to a sportsman’s hunting bill, aimed at killing DC’s gun control laws, were rendered harmless when the hunting bill itself died Thursday afternoon.
Meanwhile, amendments offered by Maryland Representative Andy Harris that would defund the District’s pot decriminalization laws will almost certainly not make it past the Senate.
DC Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton doesn’t expect any other attempts to change the District’s regulation of firearms to succeed now that Paul’s gun amendments flat-out failed. “They’re becoming less and less serious,” she tells Washingtonian. “The NRA has gone on to other things.”
Harris’s amendment has a good chance of making it out of the House. The Republican, who represents counties around Baltimore and along the Chesapeake Bay, amended a House appropriations bill to prevent the District from using funds to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana. That bill is likely to reach the House floor next week and get approved.
“I’m having to fight a little harder on that one,” says Norton.
But the Senate will not consider the spending legislation with Harris’s language. Senate appropriations committees are done for the year and cannot take up the House bills. Congress will most likely fund the government with short-term, continuing resolutions. These resolutions rarely include amendments like the one Harris attached.
“While our goal is to include this language in any bill that will fund the government after September 30,” says Harris’s spokesman Chris Meekins, “that question is still up in the air.”
Translation: Congress will not interfere with the District’s legislation, and possession of small amounts of pot will be decriminalized in the nation’s capital.
Most Popular in News & Politics
See a Spotted Lanternfly? Here’s What to Do.
Meet DC’s 2025 Tech Titans
Patel Dined at Rao’s After Kirk Shooting, Nonviolent Offenses Led to Most Arrests During Trump’s DC Crackdown, and You Should Try These Gougères
The “MAGA Former Dancer” Named to a Top Job at the Kennedy Center Inherits a Troubled Program
Trump Travels One Block From White House, Declares DC Crime-Free; Barron Trump Moves to Town; and GOP Begins Siege of Home Rule
Washingtonian Magazine
September Issue: Style Setters
View IssueSubscribe
Follow Us on Social
Follow Us on Social
Related
Why a Lost DC Novel Is Getting New Attention
These Confusing Bands Aren’t Actually From DC
Fiona Apple Wrote a Song About This Maryland Court-Watching Effort
The Confusing Dispute Over the Future of the Anacostia Playhouse
More from News & Politics
Administration Steps Up War on Comedians, Car Exhibition on the Mall Canceled After Tragedy, and Ted Leonsis Wants to Buy D.C. United
What Happens After We Die? These UVA Researchers Are Investigating It.
Why a Lost DC Novel Is Getting New Attention
Bondi Irks Conservatives With Plan to Limit “Hate Speech,” DC Council Returns to Office, and Chipotle Wants Some Money Back
GOP Candidate Quits Virginia Race After Losing Federal Contracting Job, Trump Plans Crackdown on Left Following Kirk’s Death, and Theatre Week Starts Thursday
5 Things to Know About “Severance” Star Tramell Tillman
See a Spotted Lanternfly? Here’s What to Do.
Patel Dined at Rao’s After Kirk Shooting, Nonviolent Offenses Led to Most Arrests During Trump’s DC Crackdown, and You Should Try These Gougères