Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, 2015

Floor Speech

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Ms. NORTON. I thank my friend for yielding and for his work, and I thank my friends from Florida and from New York for their work on the D.C. portion and regret that two riders mar that portion of the bill.

Mr. Chairman, Congress disallows Federal money for abortions, but 17 States assert their local prerogative to do so in our Federal Republic, which treasures local autonomy above all.

Congress maintains that marijuana must be criminally penalized, but 18 States have taken State leadership to decriminalize marijuana. The administration's Statement of Administration Policy respects D.C.'s equal right to do what 18 States have already done, and so should this House.

The abortion ban deprives D.C.'s low-income women of the reproductive rights exercised by other American women. And the marijuana decriminalization law deprives African Americans in the District of equal rights under the law.

Yet Blacks and Whites use marijuana at the same rate, but 90 percent of those arrested for possession in D.C. are Black. A Black kid in America with a ``drug conviction'' has his life ruined.

Abusing pot is a bad idea, but penalizing it is worse.

D.C. puts fines collected from civil violations of its new law in a substance abuse prevention and treatment fund. A D.C. bill authorizes public education on marijuana use and abuse. That beats what most decriminalization jurisdictions have done.

The gentleman from Maryland, Andy Harris, the sponsor of this bill, has suspended his own professed State devolution principles. This House should not follow him.

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