Cannabis Business Times
2 GOP Senators Attempting to Steal Rescheduling Power From Trump Administration
The Republican duo submitted an amendment to reinsert language in a spending bill that would block the DOJ from reclassifying cannabis.
By Tony Lange
UPDATE: The Senate voted, 82-15, on Jan. 15 to pass House Resolution 6938 without amendments, sending the three-bill funding package to President Donald Trump without including a proposal from two Republican Senators that would have blocked the administration from rescheduling cannabis.
The power grab on cannabis rescheduling is back on the table in Washington, after a pair of U.S. senators filed an amendment on Jan. 13 attempting to strip the executive branch’s authority to reclassify the plant.
Sens. Ted Budd, R-N.C., and James Lankford, R-Okla., submitted the amendment that they proposed attaching to House Resolution 6938, a three-bill funding package that includes fiscal year 2026 appropriations for Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS) and related agencies.
The amendment would prevent the Department of Justice (DOJ) from rescheduling cannabis out of Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), where it’s been listed alongside heroin, LSD and ecstasy as drugs with the highest potential for abuse since President Richard Nixon signed the CSA into law more than 50 years ago.
The Budd-Lankford amendment was listed in Tuesday’s Congressional Record:
“None of the funds made available by this division may be used to transfer marijuana, as defined in section 102 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 802), from schedule I of section 202(c) of that Act (21 U.S.C. 812(c)) to another schedule of that section.”
This language mirrors what the U.S. House and Senate Appropriations committees recently removed from a conferenced CJS bill that they released on Jan. 5, as part of the three-bill package.
The bicameral decision to remove the language appeared to halt Congress’ checks-and-balances attempt on President Donald Trump, who on Dec. 18 signed an executive order directing Attorney General Pamela Bondi to expedite the completion of reclassifying cannabis to Schedule III drug, alongside codeine, ketamine, anabolic steroids and testosterone.
The CSA vests the U.S. attorney general, as the head of the DOJ, with the authority to “schedule, reschedule or decontrol drugs,” but Budd and Lankford are attempting to strip that authority for cannabis and reserve it exclusively for the legislative branch.
Budd and Lankford’s amendment, which attempts to revive the rescheduling language, comes despite the House voting, 397-28, to pass the three-bill appropriations package without the rescheduling language on Jan. 8.
In addition to the CJS portion, the package includes appropriations for Energy and Water Development, and Interior and Environment.
“We prioritize public safety by supporting law enforcement and stopping the flow of fentanyl into our communities,” House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., said before the full chamber’s passage. “We advance American strength by unleashing energy dominance, securing critical minerals, and investing in nuclear power. And we uphold stewardship by protecting public lands, supporting wildland firefighters, and ensuring responsible resource management.
Cole added that the three bills were a product of “bipartisan, bicameral consensus” and grounded in a “member-driven” process.
While the majority of House and Senate Republicans have remained silent on Trump’s rescheduling order, 42% of GOP senators and 12% of GOP House members sent letters to the president last month opposing his order. No Democrats signed either letter.
Budd spearheaded the Senate’s letter, which Lankford also signed.
“Rescheduling marijuana to a Schedule III substance and putting more money in the pockets of marijuana companies is a shortsighted policy decision that will have detrimental effects on the health and safety of Americans, especially our nation’s youth,” Budd said in a separate statement accompanying the letter.
“The negative health impacts of marijuana are numerous and well-documented – increased risk of heart attack, stroke, psychotic disorders, addiction and hospitalization,” he said. “Marijuana use contributes significantly to deadly traffic and workplace accidents, and with this action, our Department of Transportation will be unable to conduct testing for marijuana – even for America’s pilots and truck drivers. We should not be handing tax breaks to bad actors and foreign drug cartels to advertise a drug that will harm Americans.”
Twenty other senators joined Budd and Lankford in signing the letter: John Barrasso, Wyo.; Tom Cotton, Ark.; Shelley Moore Capito, W.Va.; Roger Marshall, Kan.; Pete Ricketts, Neb.; Tommy Tuberville, Ala.; John Cornyn, Texas; Marsha Blackburn, Tenn.; Jim Banks, Ind.; Ron Johnson, Wis.; Mike Crapo, S.D.; Rick Scott, Fla.; Bill Hagerty, Tenn.; Jim Risch, Idaho; Kevin Cramer, N.D.; Cindy Hyde-Smith, Miss.; Lindsey Graham, S.C.; Cynthia Lummis, Wyo.; Dave McCormick, Pa.; and Mitch McConnell, Ky.
Neither Budd nor Lankford’s office responded to Cannabis Business Times’ requests for comment for this article.
The Senate is considering amendments to H.R. 6938 this week on the floor.