By Tim Monahan
NDASA is actively engaged in seeking a safety carve-out to protect public safety through continued testing for THC should the U.S. Department of Justice succeed in forcing the Drug Enforcement Administration to reschedule marijuana, against the findings of medical science.
NDASA has requested an extension of the deadline, submitted public comments and requested a hearing to testify on this problematic reclassification. Additionally, the association has sent out member alerts, resulting in a robust response from our members who have contacted their legislators, alerting them to the issue at hand. We also issued a press release and requested a Transportation and Infrastructure Committee hearing where Secretary Pete Buttigieg stated that testing of transportation safety-sensitive workers will continue. We intend to hold him to that statement. NDASA looks forward to keeping our members posted on these critical issues.
Other happenings on The Hill
After the Presidential debate on June 27, all of Washington and much of the country is in full campaign season which will dominate all political and legislative activities within Congress. Since the start of the 118th Congress, it has been defined by the narrow margins in both the House and Senate, which has led to dysfunction and lack of productivity.
The first-ever motion to vacate ousted Speaker Kevin McCarthy and led to the election of Speaker Mike Johnson. That change has only complicated the dynamics of getting anything through Congress. Despite the historic lack of productivity this Congress there still remains a number of major pieces of legislation that need to be addressed before the end of the year. With the end of a Congress, retiring Members, Chairmen, and Leadership in both chambers will want to push through as many of their priorities during the lame-duck session. Additionally, many retiring Senators or Representatives, like Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers and Chairman Patrick McHenry, will want to leave Congress with legacy items.
Those items include the Fiscal Year 2025 funding for the entire Federal Government, the Farm Bill, the National Defense Authorization Act, the Water Resources Development Act and likely an emergency supplemental appropriation to assist with rebuilding the Francis Scott Key Bridge that collapsed in Baltimore. It is safe to assume that all of that legislation will occur during the lame duck timeframe, which is the time after the elections in November but before the end of the Congress which is January 2, 2025.