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WASHINGTON – The nation’s capital this week was marked by the specter of escalating tensions with Venezuela as the United States imposed a blockade on the South American nation’s oil tankers and by President Donald Trump’s efforts to combat flagging public confidence in the way he’s handling the economy.
Minnesota’s lawmakers pushed back on the Pentagon’s hostile actions with two War Powers Resolutions that would have forced Trump to go to Congress for approval before attacking Venezuela and would have halted his campaign of striking vessels in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean.
Both measures failed largely on party line votes that split Minnesota’s congressional delegation as it’s Republican members rejected the opportunity to rein in Trump’s war powers.
Not so Rep. Betty McCollum, D-4th District, the highest-ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense.
Related: D.C. Memo: Trump’s very strange Cabinet meeting
“The Trump administration is engaged in a campaign of extrajudicial killings in the Caribbean, and it needs to end immediately,” McCollum said in a statement released after Wednesday’s votes. “Both Republicans and Democrats in Congress have called on the administration to stop. I do not believe that engaging in military action in the Caribbean or conducting a regime change war in Venezuela is in the national security interests of the United States.”
No extension on ACA subsidies
Also this week, the U.S. House followed the U.S. Senate in failing to approve legislation that would have extended enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies that expire on Dec. 31. That means premiums will jump for about 90,000 Minnesotans who received those enhanced subsidies to help them buy health coverage through MNsure, Minnesota’s ACA marketplace.
Many Minnesotans who purchase insurance from MNsure are expected to find it unaffordable and become uninsured. But there is a chance that help may come in the New Year.
Since House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., refused to allow a vote on any legislation that would extend the enhanced subsidies, Democrats have collected signatures on a “discharge petition” that would force a vote on the legislation.
That petition on Wednesday reached the necessary threshold — 218 signatures —when four Republicans from swing congressional districts signed on. So, a vote on legislation to extend the subsidies can be held in January.
But Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has said any such legislation is doomed to die in the Senate.
House GOP moderates are now discussing options with their Senate counterparts about a bipartisan compromise bill that could pass both chambers.
This week also featured a national address by Trump, who has been battered by still-high inflation and a Democratic campaign centered on “affordability.”
Trump blamed the nation’s slowing economy on former President Joe Biden and immigrants without legal status as polls show Americans increasingly losing confidence in his handling of the U.S. economy.
Hann joins the Senate fray
Another Republican, former Minnesota GOP Party chief David Hann, has entered the race for retiring Sen. Tina Smith’s seat.
Hann served as senate minority leader in the state Legislature before becoming state Republican Party chairman in 2021. But he was defeated in re-election to that post last year by Wayzata City Council Member Alex Plechash, who was favored by the most conservative wing of the party.
In the announcement his campaign released Thursday about his entry into the race, Hann came out slugging against the Democratic Party in a way intended to warm President Donald Trump’s and MAGA hearts.
“This is not the DFL of our parents and grandparents,” Hann said. “Today’s Democratic Party is dominated by radical Socialist activists who are more interested in ideology than results. While families struggle to afford groceries, gas, and housing, Democrats defend bureaucracies and fraudsters — and Minnesotans are left paying the price.”
Hann will join fellow Republicans Royce White, Adam Schwarze and Tom Weiler.
Former sports broadcaster and current podcaster Michele Tafoya is also waiting in the wings after meeting with National Republican Senatorial Committee officials last week about possibly entering the Senate race.
However, Democrats are favored to keep this seat. Rep. Angie Craig, D-2nd District, and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan are the Democrats in the race for a rare open U.S. Senate seat.
Trump reclassifies pot, citing its medicinal value
President Donald Trump kept a campaign promise this week by signing an executive order to expedite the reclassification of marijuana and eventually take it off the list of some of the nation’s most dangerous drugs.
Trump’s order would increase research on the medical use of marijuana, but not legalize it on the federal level.
Marijuana is now a Schedule I drug, along with heroin, LSD and ecstasy, which are not considered to have any acceptable medical use, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.
With Trump’s order, marijuana will now be considered a Schedule III drug, which, according to the DEA, have “a moderate to low potential for physical and psychological dependence.”
“The facts compel the federal government to recognize that marijuana can be legitimate in terms of medical applications when carefully administered. In some cases, this may include the use as a substitute for addictive and potentially lethal opioid painkillers,” Trump said, calling the move “common sense.”
In announcing the policy change, the White House said “one in 10 seniors used marijuana in the last year and some evidence shows improvements in seniors’ health-related quality of life and pain with medical marijuana use. However, the current Schedule I position of marijuana has impeded research.”
The White House also said it was reclassifying cannabinoids because Congress has recently outlawed hemp-produced CBD products that have more than a trace of THC, the psychoactive ingredient found in hemp and marijuana. It added that the reclassification was necessary because “full-spectrum” CBD products used for health purposes will soon “be controlled as marijuana.”
Trump’s move comes after heavy lobbying by the nation’s marijuana industry, which has grown in political clout as states have taken steps to legalize pot.
Twenty-four states, including Minnesota, and the District of Columbia have legalized small amounts of cannabis for adult recreational use. While marijuana is still considered illegal by the federal government, Congress limited the funds available to federal law enforcement to prosecute those who possess it, opening the door for an increase in state legalizations.
Marijuana advocates urged the Justice Department and the DEA to quickly issue final rules to reclassify cannabis.
“Doing so would finally remove the punitive burden of (federal cannabis restrictions) allowing compliant, state-licensed operators to reinvest in growth, innovation and workforce development across the nearly half-million Americans employed in this industry,” said Adam Stettner, CEO of FundCanna, a cannabis business financing company. This is not about legalization — it’s about legitimacy.”
The rescheduling of marijuana would allow the growing cannabis industry fuller access to bank loans and the ability to write off expenses and losses on federal taxes, among other things.
ICYMI:
▪️Brian Arola wrote about the impact of President Trump’s $12 billion bailout of farmers who’ve been hurt by his tariff policy and found that Minnesota farmers don’t think the money is enough.
▪️State government reporter Cleo Krejci wrote that a legislative task force is reviewing state rules on foraging that is now banned but needed for the collection of plants that many Minnesotans use for medicinal purposes.
▪️Meanwhile, former sportscaster Michele Tafoya stepped up her bashing of Democrats on social media, including Senate hopefuls Angie Craig and Peggy Flanagan, as speculation swirls that she will enter the race herself to fill the seat of the retiring Tina Smith.
▪️And as “Operation Metro Surge” roils the Twin Cities, rural sheriffs who agreed to cooperate with the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown have been frustrated by Democratic officials who oppose the campaign and by immigrant advocates like the ACLU, which is suing Freeborn County over its contract with Homeland Security.
▪️ Speaking of ICE raids, Trevor Mitchell, our new metro reporter, wrote about those loud whistles activists have been blowing to draw attention to ICE activities in the Twin Cities.
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