The Chairman is old mostly worthless (once in a while Grassley does something useful) Chuck Grassley of Iowa; next is next to worthless Orrin G. Hatch, Utah; then comes the totally worthless Jefferson Davis Beauregard Sessions the Third of Alabama; silly Lindsey Graham of South Carolina; stuck-in-the-mud John Cornyn of Texas; impossible and ratty Michael S. Lee of Utah (how the hell did two worthless senators from Utah end up on this screwed up committee?); the ridiculous Ted Cruz of Texas (the same question could be asked of Texas); Lord give me hope Jeff Flake of Arizona; you can't be serious Diaper Boy David Vitter of Louisiana; he's elected from Georgia and you can't trust him David Perdue of GA; and how the hell did he ever get elected Thom Tillis of North Carolina.
With that kind of a Republican majority lineup don't expect anything of Democrats even with two senators from Minnesota on their side.
Any way the reason for my major bitch with the committee lies below:
Instead of standing by as change sweeps the country, federal lawmakers should be more actively debating and changing the nation’s absurd marijuana policies, policies that have ruined millions of lives and wasted billions of dollars. Their inaction is putting businesses and individuals in states that have legalized medical and recreational marijuana in dubious legal territory — doing something that is legal in their state but is considered a federal crime. Many growers, retailers and dispensaries also have to operate using only cash because many banks will not serve them, citing the federal prohibition. Recently, the Federal Reserve denied a master account to a credit union in Colorado seeking to provide financial services to marijuana businesses.
Lawmakers who hope their colleagues in Congress will act face an uphill struggle. For example, a bill introduced in the Senate by Cory Booker and Kirsten Gillibrand, Democrats of New Jersey and New York, respectively, and Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, would allow states to legalize marijuana for medical use. It would also allow banks and credit unions to provide financial services to cannabis-based businesses in states that have legalized the drug. The bill has 16 sponsors, including two Republicans, but the Judiciary Committee, which is chaired by Charles Grassley, Republican of Iowa, has not scheduled it for a hearing or a vote. An identical bill in the House with 17 sponsors, eight of them Republican, is also languishing in committee.
Oh goody! Let's take a look at the Republican lineup on the House Judiciary.
First off, it's chaired by Robert Goodlatte (VA-06):
On Wednesday afternoon, a subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on legislation that, if successful, would be a giant step forward for corporate America and an equally giant step backward for consumers.
Rep. Bob Goodlatte has introduced H.R. 1927 -- the misleadingly titled Fairness in Class Action Litigation Act of 2015 -- which would make it essentially impossible for Americans to join together in bringing class-action lawsuits for nearly any illegal act a corporation might undertake. Goodlatte's bill, which is an extremist wish list from corporate lobbyists, strips away consumer protections on everything from deceptive advertising to privacy invasions. It could roll back wage-theft protections for workers, antitrust protections for small businesses and securities-fraud protections for investors.
Then there are Republican luminaries on the committee like Steve King (IA-04), Darrell Issa (CA-49), Louie Gohmert (TX-01), Raul Labrador (ID-01), Trent Franks (AZ-08), Trey Gowdy (SC-04), Blake Farenthold (TX-27).
H.R.1538: CARERS Act of 2015 (Introduced in House) To extend the principle of federalism to State drug policy, provide access to medical marijuana, and enable research into the medicinal properties of marijuana and the senate bill, S.683: CARERS Act of 2015 are DOA.