Political Quotes

“I think the distinguished gentleman seems to concede the general principle that we should not be denying the opportunity of Federal employment to half of the country because they have used marijuana before. So, his argument seems to be: We have denied so many people that this would be an imposition on Federal bureaucrats to go back and tell people when they have been wronged in the past simply by telling the truth and saying that they have once used marijuana. In fact, most of these agencies don't even require that there was any kind of criminal prosecution or conviction. They ask you, ``Have you used marijuana?'' If people say, ``Yes, I used it once in college,'' or whatever, they can't get a job. That makes no sense. We are doing that to our constituents. Yes, let's go back and see how many people we have denied the opportunity of Federal employment to because they have used marijuana, which is lawful in most of the country now, either on a medicinal basis or on a recreational basis for adult consenting individuals who decide that is a decision they want to make. Let's grow up as a country about this, and let's stop discriminating against our own people. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.”