Will The Next Month and Half’s “Lame Duck” Session Get Legalization Issues Passed?

This week, NJ Spotlight News posted an interview with New Jersey Democratic Senator Cory Booker.

Booker has previously spoken about his hopes that cannabis legislation could be passed during this year’s “lame duck session”. That is the period between the November mid-term elections and early January, when the new Congress session, with newly electeed congressional representatives, begins.

When asked in this interview about his views on the likelihood of this happening now, he said, “There’s a greater understanding on these issues—and I just have a feeling that we can get something done. … But the problem we have right now is the clock. There’s very little time in this lame duck and a lot of things that people want to do.” It’s “going to be hard to get as much done as we need to.”

Booker has previously spoken optimistically about introducing marijuana legislation measures and the SAFE Banking Plus package during this period.

And while this week he sounded cautious about the limited time available, he also signaled that there is an urgency around marijuana issues over the next few weeks in the Senate.

​Booker said that the imminent Republican Congressional majority set to take over in January is probably not likely to advance any cannabis issues. He said, “… even though there’s a lot of House members from states that have legalized marijuana in one way or the other—I just don’t see the Republicans wanting to advance that.” Booker added, “So it’s either now, or it might be many years from now.”